Detroit police burglary task force members charged with home invasion

DETROIT (WJBK) - Two Detroit police officers part of the burglary task force have been charged with two counts of home invasion. The man whose home they are accused of breaking into, says he feared for his life.

"My brains could have all over the front porch," said Tashar Cornelius. "Traumatizing."

Back in January of this year, police Sgt. Paul Glaza and Officer Bradley Clark knocked on the front door of a home on Pembroke near Lahser. Inside at the time was 28-year-old Tashar Cornelius.

"I was in my house making a sandwich and the police came to my house searching for a suspect," he said. He said the two policemen were looking for a man named "Mike." 

"They couldn't provide me with a valid search warrant. They didn't have my permission to enter my property," Cornelius said. He says he doesn't even know who Mike was, but says they were determined to get inside. 

"And when they entered the property they had their weapons drawn and one handcuffed me right away and they ransacked the house," Cornelius said.

Police didn't find Mike, he says, but they did find something else. 

"They knew I was a felon and I had a Taser on my table," he said. "They decided to charge me for the Taser."

He was led away from his house in handcuffs, taken to county jail where he claims he was kept for 36 hours without ever being charged. 

"My mom stays across the street. She witnessed the whole thing," he said. "It traumatized my family."

Cornelius wasn't charged, but Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's office has charged the Detroit police sergeant and the officer with second- and third-degree home invasion, along with misconduct of office. The prosecutor says the officers didn't have a search warrant nor an arrest warrant for the man they were looking for. 

"I just want justice," Cornelius said. "I don't want anyone else to go through the things I went through that day."

Both officers are suspended with pay at the moment. Cornelius says he is the process of filing a lawsuit for the damages to his house and the emotional damage suffered by him and his family. 

The criminal case will be back in court later this month. The Detroit Police Department plans to address the issue during a news conference Tuesday.

FOX 2 spoke with Mark Diaz, the police union president. He said, based on what has been released by the prosecutor's office in regards to what happened at that house back in January, he feels that Worthy is 100 percent "over-charging" and over-stepping her bounds by issuing this charges against the officers. 

Diaz plans to also issue a statement Tuesday.