DETROIT (WXYZ) — A Wayne County Circuit Court judge upheld the dismissal of involuntary manslaughter charges against a former Detroit police officer.
70-year-old Daryl Vance died following a verbal altercation with Detroit Police Officer Juwan Brown back in September. Witnesses said at the time that Vance was drunk and beligerant outside of the Garden Bowl in Midtown.
WATCH: Our story from January on Brown's charges initially getting dismissed
Officer Brown was seen on surveillance camera punching Vance, who fell backward and struck his head, later dying at the hospital.
36th District Court Judge Kenneth King dismissed the charges back in January, saying there wasn't enough evidence to bind the case over. Today, Circuit Court Judge Nicholas Hathaway agreed.
Officer Brown has since been terminated by DPD. His attorney, Steve Fishman, applauded the judge's ruling.
"Judge Hathaway correctly decided that Judge King’s dismissal of the case was proper," Fishman said. "It should now be clear to everyone that Officer Brown acted in self-defense, period."
The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office says they will appealing today's decision to the Michigan Court of Appeals.
In January, following Judge King's dismissal, two Detroit police commissioners expressed exasperation over the case being tossed.
RELATED: Detroit officer’s dismissed manslaughter charge baffles police commissioners
“Did it look like excessive force to you?” Channel 7's Ross Jones asked police Commissioner Ricardo Moore in January.
“Absolutely,” he said.
“I strongly disagree with the judge’s ruling,” said Commissioner Willie Bell, who also viewed the video. “That was extreme excessive force.”
Both disagreed with the judge’s ruling, and what he said he saw on video. ‘
7 News shared the video with Dennis Kenney, a professor of criminal justice at John Jay College in New York.
“De-escalation involves a lot of things. None of them are what I saw on the video that I looked at,” Kenney said.
“The subject was difficult, he was certainly being problematic. But that’s not new for the police. They’re used to that and they’re trained and are expected to be able to deal with that.”
Vance's family is suing the City of Detroit for $50 million over his death.
