Appeals Court OKs Boot Camp for Ex-Inkster Cop

• Get Patch’s daily newsletter and real-time news alerts.

INKSTER, MI – William Melendez, the ex-Inkster police officer who was sentenced up to 10 years in prison in the brutal beating of a suspect in a traffic stop, will be allowed to serve part of his sentence in a military-style boot camp in Chelsea.

The Thursday ruling by Michigan Court of Appeals overturns Wayne County Circuit Judge Vonda Evans’ April 4 order modifying her original sentence that allowed the boot camp option and ordering his return to the maximum security Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility at Ionia.

See Also

• Judge: No Boot Camp for Ex-Inkster Cop

The Court of Appeals became involved when Melendez’s lawyer, James Thomas filed an emergency order asking that he be allowed to return to the Special Alternative Program in Chelsea.

“It is unconscionable to me that the Michigan Department of Corrections would irresponsibly and recklessly decide that former police officer Melendez who was convicted of assault with the Intent to do great bodily harm for the police beating of Floyd Dent should be placed in its boot camp program,” she said.

“This is outrageous,” Worthy continued. “We argued at his sentencing that he should serve far more than what he was given, and this decision adds insult to injury — literally. The fact that he is even eligible for Boot Camp speaks to the need for an immediate change the eligibility standards.”