ANN ARBOR (WXYZ) — "I'm going to videotape. It's my right. It's my right," said Sha-teina Grady El to Washtenaw County Sheriff deputies as they surrounded her daughter's Ypsilanti Township home early Tuesday morning. "Do what you got to do. You got the whole yard. It's my right to video you. It's my right."
The 45-year-old woman, who lives just a few doors away from her daughter, can be heard on cell phone video taken by her husband as they both stood outside the house on Peachcrest, repeatedly telling deputies that they needed a warrant if they wanted to enter the house where their daughter was with several young children.
Deputies were investigating a nearby shooting and said they obtained information that the suspect might be inside the house.
"Produce your warrant," Mrs. Grady El told deputies who were trying to get her daughter to open the door.
It was a short time later that deputies are accused of crossing the line as they placed the couple under arrest.
On cell phone video taken by a bystander, one of the deputies is seen punching Mrs. Grady El several times. And when her husband tries to help her, another deputy uses a Taser on him.
After her parents were arrested and worried what might happen next, Jaquisy Diggins said she let deputies in to search even though she said she repeatedly told them that they had bad information and the wrong house.
Deputies searched and later left the house without finding a shooting suspect or any evidence that a crime took place there.
Sheriff Jerry Clayton told 7 Action News that he will release body cam footage from all of the deputies involved in the incident when he meets with reporters on Friday to discuss details.
Protests continued outside the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office on Thursday and the large crowd marched to Washtenaw Avenue again. Deputies diverted vehicle traffic and the protesters marched under US-23 and toward downtown Ann Arbor before turning around and returning.
Earlier this week, the Washtenaw County Prosecutor decided they needed more time to review body cam videos before making a decision about possible obstruction charges against the couple.
The sheriff was ready to release the husband and wife Wednesday, but only Daniyal Grady El walked out because Taylor Police took custody of Sha-teina Grady El for an outstanding warrant in their city that involves resisting arrest.
Sha-teina Grady El was given a $2,500 bond in the Taylor case, but even if she posted that bond, she would not have been released because of a bench warrant for failure to appear in court in a case involving a 2019 encounter with Canton Police outside a Walmart.
According to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, Mrs. Grady El was in the front passenger seat of a car that had no record of the plate on file.
Relatives of Mrs. Grady El began recording this encounter with Canton Police and accused officers of police brutality.
Prosecutors said Mrs. Grady El refused to provide her identification and after 40 minutes of "being asked to get out of the car, the officers broke the window and were able to remove her from the car. She is alleged to have bitten one officer – piercing his skin through his leather glove."
Late Thursday night, a spokesperson for Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's office said, in a statement, that Worthy has contacted the administrative jail committee and asked that Mrs. Grady El be medically evaluated.
The statement went on to say it "is the position of Prosecutor Worthy that considering the possible impact of the COVID virus and Ms. Grady’s injuries that she be considered for an administrative jail release with a tether and a no contact provision with the complainants on her cases."
We're told an assistant prosecuting attorney will state Worthy's position during a hearing Friday and the final decision is expected to be made by Judge Timothy Kenny.
Sha-teina Grady El and her husband are Moorish Americans and do not consider anything outside of the Constitution to be law. And Daniyal Grady El said that most of the issues they have had with police stem from traffic stops.
As Moors they consider the registration of vehicles through the state to be unnecessary and unlawful.
Mr. Grady El said if they are to be charged with any crime where there is a victim, it must be in federal court.
