Sister Claims Hazel Park Police Beat Man to Death
Source: www.detnow.com

A grieving sister says she watched helplessly as Hazel Park officers beat her brother to death, but police insist that is not what happened.

Autopsy results are inconclusive and show no obvious cause of death. His sister believes he died after the altercation with Hazel Park Police. She says the officers beat her brother with their batons, but so far the autopsy has not shown that is what killed the man. More tests have to be done to determine what happened.

"I said, 'Stop. Please don't hit him. He's mentally ill. Don't do that. Stop. Stop. Stop," said Georgia Poles.

Poles says Hazel Park police officers beat her brother to death. Thirty-nine-year-old Bassim Maya, who was mentally ill, was not taking his medication so his sister had asked for officers' help to take him to the hospital. When Maya resisted, his sister claims the cops went overboard.

"Put him on the couch and I just put myself over him so that way when they tried to hit him they wouldn't. There was no one home, just me and my sister-in-law. They were trying to go over me to go to him," Poles said.

Hazel Park's police chief maintains his officers were up against a martial arts expert and it took five or six officers to restrain Maya.

"He was apparently throwing roundhouse kicks and hospitalized three of my officers, so I don't exactly his level of expertise or what officially is, but he definitely used it. He struggled, three police officers were hurt and Maya was dead," said Hazel Park Police Chief David Niedermeier.

"They did beat him to death. I saw it in front of my eyes beating my brother to death and they will pay for it," said Poles.

Maya's family has hired Attorney Geoffrey Fieger to represent them.

Hazel Park has turned the case over to the Oakland County Sheriff's Department to investigate what happened and if any officers are to blame.