Detroit Federal Jury Awards $4 Million After Clinton Township Officer's Punch Blinds Daniel Reiff
Won by Marko Law Firm.
A federal jury in Detroit awarded Daniel Reiff $4 million plus $50,000 in punitive damages after finding that Clinton Township Officer Broc Setty punched him hard enough to rupture his eye and leave him blind on that side.
What happened
In 2021, Clinton Township police responded to a report of a suspicious person near 16 Mile Road and Gratiot Avenue in Macomb County, Michigan. Officer Broc Setty approached Daniel Reiff, who turned and ran. Setty chased him on foot. According to evidence presented at trial, the officer shouted, "Whoo, baby, I'm gonna tase you, bro," then caught up and punched Reiff once in the face.
The single blow did severe damage. It ruptured Reiff's eyeball, cracked bones in his face, and broke a tooth. One doctor compared the ruptured eye to a grape that had been squished. Reiff went through multiple surgeries to rebuild the structure of his face, and he now carries permanent metal screws beneath the skin. He has no sight in the injured eye, and he was later diagnosed with PTSD.
Reiff brought a federal civil rights suit against Setty, arguing the officer used force that the Constitution does not permit. The claim went to a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, with Marko Law representing Reiff at trial. Jonathan Marko and Michael Jones built the case around one point: this began as a non-emergency call, Reiff was not armed, and nothing about the encounter justified a punch that cost a man his eye.
The defense framed the chase as a fast-moving, split-second situation. Reiff's lawyers pushed back. They argued that Setty struck out of anger once the short foot pursuit ended, not out of any real need to defend himself or anyone else, and that an officer does not get a pass to use violence because he is frustrated or out of breath. Much of the trial turned on the gap between a routine call about a person walking through the area and the disfiguring injury that followed.
On December 15, 2025, the jury sided with Reiff. It awarded $4 million in compensatory damages. Jurors also found that Setty had acted with evil intent, a finding that supported an added $50,000 in punitive damages.
"This verdict is about accountability and equal justice under the law," Michael Jones said after the verdict. "This was a non-emergency call. There was no justification for what happened." The award totaled $4.05 million.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.FOX 2 Detroit: Man awarded $4M after suing Clinton Township officer who punched him·Archived copy
- 2.ClickOnDetroit (WDIV): Jury awards man $4M after Macomb County police officer punches, disfigures him·Archived copy
- 3.WWJ Newsradio (Audacy): Macomb County man awarded $4 million after punch from cop ruptures his eye·Archived copy
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