Update: Former Pearl police officer Michael Christian Green on Thursday pleaded guilty to one count of acting under color of law to deprive a person of his civil rights. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 12 and faces up to one year in prison.
A Pearl police officer is being charged after he forced a person who was being booked in jail to lick urine off the floor of a holding cell, court documents show.
Michael Christian Green is charged with one federal count of deprivation of rights under color of law and is expected to plead guilty soon. Documents allege that Green made a video of himself forcing the arrestee to partake in the crude act.
The man, who was booked after a disturbance at Sam’s Club on Dec. 23, asked the officer to urinate. After not being allowed to, the man urinated in a corner. Prosecutors wrote that Green threatened to beat him with a phone and commanded that he “lick it up.”
Green used his cell phone to film the man licking up his own urine before gagging and vomiting into a trash can, prosecutors alleged. Green was charged earlier this month, and the city of Pearl confirmed on Wednesday that he had been fired from his position as patrolman shortly after the incident took place.
“When the City discovered this disturbing incident over Christmas weekend, it quickly opened an internal investigation,” City of Pearl spokesperson Therese Apel said. “By December 27, 2023, Officer Green was relieved of his duties.
Through the ongoing internal investigation, the city discovered the video shot by Green and turned it in to the FBI. Officials have engaged attorney Candace Gregory, a former federal prosecutor and director of Mississippi’s Public Integrity Division, to review the police department’s policies and provide any necessary training assistance.
“To be clear, this incident is beyond deplorable to City officials. Michael Green does not represent the values and standards within the Pearl Police Department,” Apel continued. “The charged actions have both embarrassed and dishonored the faithful officers who serve and protect our City every day.”
