Former City of Pearl, Miss., police Officer Michael Christian Green walks out of the federal courthouse in Jackson, Miss., Thursday, March 14, 2024, after pleading guilty to a federal misdemeanor charge after authorities said he forced a man he had arrested to lick urine off the floor of a jail cell. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
A former police officer pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to forcing a man to lick urine off the floor of a holding cell. Michael Christian Green, 26, repeated commands to “lick it up,” and told the victim to “go suck it up right now,” according to court documents. The charge is deprivation of civil rights under color of law.
“To be clear, this incident is beyond deplorable to City officials. Michael Green does not represent the values and standards within the Pearl Police Department,” the city of Pearl, Mississippi, said in a statement obtained by Law&Crime. “The charged actions have both embarrassed and dishonored the faithful officers who serve and protect our City every day.”
The incident took place on Dec. 23, 2023. According to documents, Green had been dispatched to a family disturbance at the Sam’s Club at 90 Bass Pro Drive.
He arrested a man, took him to the police department, and put him in a holding cell.
Surveillance footage showed the man knocking on the door to the holding cell, according to federal authorities.
“[The man] attempted to communicate to Green that he needed to urinate,” documents said. “After waiting a period of time for a response, [the man] walked to the back of the cell and urinated in a corner.”
Eventually, Green took the man to the booking area but then learned about the peeing.
“Green answered the booking area telephone and was notified that [the man] had urinated in the holding cell,” documents stated. “Green looked at [the man] and stated, ‘Let me tell you somethin’. You see this phone? I will beat your f—— ass with it. You’re fixin’ to go in there and you’re gonna lick that piss up. Do you understand me?”
He took the victim to the holding cell and recorded with his phone. Green repeated his demand for the victim to lick the urine, even after the man gagged several times.
The city said that the incident was reported on Dec. 24, and they immediately started an internal investigation. The city said that Green resigned on Dec. 27. Mayor Jake Windham said in a press conference that he told the ranking lieutenant at the time — while then-Police Chief Dean Scott was in the hospital — that if Green did not resign, they would make a special meeting and he will recommend that Green be fired immediately. City spokesperson Therese Apel told Law&Crime that in Pearl, it takes the entire board of aldermen to fire someone.
“I don’t understand how you treat someone like that,” Windham said in the press conference. “The proper thing to do was to take the gentleman to the restroom and not do anything of this magnitude and violate his civil rights.”
He voiced an apology to the man and the man’s family.
Green is scheduled for a sentencing to take place June 12. He faces up to a year in prison.
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