In a brutal and infuriating abuse of power, a suburban Detroit police officer hit and tied down a potential rape victim before cutting off her hair weave, according to media reports.
Warren (Mich.) police officer Bernadette Najor, with the assistance of several male officers, hit Charda Gregory, 22, a potential rape victim, strapped her down to control her and summarily cut off and pulled off her weave. The victim complains today that she still has a few bald patches from where officer Najor ripped out what she could not cut off.
The case began when Gregory woke up disoriented and groggy in a seedy motel room, where she was arrested by police for trashing the room. The young mother, who was traumatized after the incident, had no idea how she got there or why police brutalized her, Detroit’s 7 Action News reports.
Gregory said in November she went to a party in Detroit where she believes someone spiked her drink with a drug.
Gregory’s lawyer, Paul Misukewicz, told the media “she had a couple of drinks, then woke up in a strange place. (She) didn’t know how she got there, completely disoriented.”
That strange place was the Suez Motel on 8 Mile Road in Warren, a northern suburb of Detroit, where Gregory was arrested.
By the time she was brought in to the jail lock-up on the top floor of the Warren Police Department, Gregory had been pepper sprayed, but she appeared calm.
It’s clear in the video that Gregory can barely stand as she is approached by Officer Bernadette Najor.
“She (Officer Najor) took it upon herself to get the scissors. For whatever reason, decided that she was going to butcher my client,” said Misukewicz.
As Officer Najor pats Gregory down, the officer pushes Gregory against the wall twice.
Suddenly Najor grabs Gregory’s hair. The officers struggle with Gregory, dragging her over to a restraining chair to tie down her arms and legs.
Officer Najor starts yanking Gregory’s head from side to side, chopping out chunks of hair. It takes three full minutes before Najor gives one final yank and removes what’s left of Gregory’s weave.
Gregory told the press that she now has bald spots where Najor ripped her real hair out by the roots.
“She’s a very horrible person,” said Gregory about Officer Najor.
“No words can describe how I feel about that right now. I’d rather not say exactly how I feel about that, I’m just very upset,” said Yolanda Ford, Gregory’s mother.
