Michigan State trooper acquitted of assault charges
Detroit Free Press – United States
28 December 2007
An internal investigation into the alleged assault of a homeless man by a Michigan State Police trooper will continue now that the officer was acquitted of criminal charges in the case.
Gabriel Seibt, 30, was acquitted Dec. 21 by a Wayne County Circuit Court jury.
The eight-year trooper was charged with misconduct in office and felonious assault. He was accused of using state-issued chemical spray on Roosevelt Dean Jr., then 50, and then dumping him at the State Fairgrounds on June 24, 2005.
Todd Parsons, Seibt’s partner at the time, was charged with misconduct in connection with the alleged assault.
Last year, Parsons pleaded guilty to filing a false police report, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to pay $500, said Matt Frendewey, spokesman for the Michigan Attorney General’s Office.
Parsons remains on the job, assigned to the Lansing post. Seibt is suspended without pay until the internal investigation determines whether he violated the State Police code of conduct.
Both troopers were charged Jan. 9, 2006. They were accused of putting Dean in the back of their squad car after a verbal confrontation in Detroit, then taking him from Greektown to the fairgrounds.
Seibt was accused of spraying Dean before the troopers left him by the side of the road.
Dean was hospitalized and later filed a complaint.
