Man charged after stomping on sleeping man’s head

GENESEE CO., Mich. (WNEM) – Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson said a man has been charged with a 10-year felony for stomping on a sleeping man’s head in a booking cell.

Swanson said on Saturday, May 13, 24-year-old Imani Harris-Rutherford was brought to the Genesee County Jail after he was arrested for unlawfully walking into an occupied apartment.

Swanson said he was placed in a booking cell with several other people and immediately attacked a 58-year-old man who was sleeping on the floor of the cell.

Video from the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office shows Harris-Rutherford enter the cell and immediately walk over to the sleeping man and stomp on his head several times, banging it into the concrete floor.

Swanson said jail staff responded within minutes. The victim was rendered virtually unconscious and immediately taken to Hurley Hospital. Swanson said he suffered concussions but is now back at the jail.

Harris-Rutherford was charged with a 10-year felony of assault with intent less than murder. He was arraigned on Tuesday, May 16.

Swanson said in American jails, nine out of 10 people who are brought in are suffering from addiction or co-addiction, and six out of 10 are suffering from some kind of mental health crisis.

He said when so many people who may have untreated mental illnesses are gathered in one place, things are unpredictable and can become violent very quickly.

However, Swanson said the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office will hold people accountable, even if they are already in jail.