A Black Man Chases Down a Hit-and-Run Driver Not Knowing He’s a Cop — Minutes Later He’s Swarmed by Officers — Then the Chief Makes a Threat on Camera That Ends His 30-Year Career
JaJuan Wyckoff was driving down the interstate in Ohio last year when he was struck by another car that turned out to be a cop who fled the scene and appeared to be driving drunk.
But the Black man did not know that until he pursued the vehicle to the Brooklyn Police Department where he confronted Paul Stein, an off-duty police sergeant not in uniform with an extensive history of use-of-force complaints against him and who has since been fired and arrested over an unrelated incident.
Surveillance video shows Stein shoving and kicking Wyckoff inside a doorway into the suburban police department in Greater Cleveland, their faces inches from each other which was when Wyckoff said he smelled booze on his breath.
But rather than investigate Stein for allegedly committing a hit-and-run while driving drunk on April 30, 2025, the four cops that stepped out of the building turned on Wyckoff, mocking, threatening and intimidating him — while Stein remained hiding inside the building.
Even Brooklyn Police Chief Scott Mielke told Wyckoff that he would have pulled a gun on him had Wyckoff pursued him into a parking lot after a hit-and-run.
Last month, Wyckoff filed a lawsuit against Stein, Mielke and the four cops who tried to intimidate him; Cindy Eschweiler, Morley Brenenstuhl, Brianna Molnar and Reynaldo Monroy, accusing them of violating his constitutional rights.
“Stein was hidden inside the building,” Keith Hansbrough, one of three attorneys representing Wyckoff in his claim, told local media, about how the cops protected Stein from accountability.
“They turned off their cameras. They didn’t drug test him. They didn’t alcohol test him. They were helping Stein flee the scene of an accident.”
Watch video of the incident below.
History of Abuse
The lawsuit was filed on April 29, 2026, the same day Chief Mielke announced his retirement after working 31 years for the Brooklyn Police Department.
Stein, meanwhile, is still facing misdemeanor assault charges stemming from the unrelated incident in September 2025 which got him fired when he repeatedly punched a handcuffed woman while crushing her shoeless feet for three minutes, the claim states.
He pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor assault charge on Monday, May 11, and is awaiting sentencing which could anywhere from a fine to six months in jail, local media reported.
But Stein only received a written reprimand for the hit-and-run incident, and was cleared of any wrongdoing for punching and kicking Wyckoff in the doorway of the police station.
And that lack of accountability was the norm for the Brooklyn Police Department, especially when it came to Stein, according to the claim that lists at least three prior abuse incidents involving the cop but also states there are likely much more that are being covered up by the department.
“Defendant City of Brooklyn’s failures on the issue of the citizen complaints detailed above are clear evidence of an official and/or de facto policy of not documenting and/or investigating citizen complaints leading to encouragement and/or toleration of the use of unconstitutional excessive force against citizens,” the claim states.
Treating Victim Like Suspect
Wyckoff began recording video from his phone after his car was struck, showing the pickup truck driven by Stein cutting in-and-out of traffic to make his getaway.
Wyckoff followed him for several miles until Stein pulled into the gated employee parking lot of the Brooklyn Police Department where he confronted him at the employee entrance.
The surveillance video shows a struggle with Stein kicking and shoving Wyckoff out the door before making it inside, leaving Wyckoff’s shoe inside.
The four cops then step out and begin interrogating him, which frustrates Wyckoff because he believes he is being treated like a suspect, not a victim.
“If I’m being treated like a suspect, I don’t want to talk to nobody,” he tells the cops.
But the cops continue to gaslight him as if he were the suspect.
“Talk to him, get him out here, he just committed a f_cking crime,” Wyckoff tells the cops.
“Y’all need to drug test him.”
He eventually talks to Chief Mielke who is more concerned that Wyckoff chased the cop into the parking lot than the fact that one of his cops was involved in a hit and run while possibly drunk. The public will never know since he was never tested for drugs or booze.
“I could tell you — if I would have handled this… I would, I would have pulled my gun out,” Mielke tells him.
“Defendant Mielke’s act of telling Plaintiff JaJuan Wyckoff that he would have utilized a firearm against him was meant as a threat, an act of victim intimidation and a statement as to official policy,” the lawsuit states.
Mielke resigned the same day the lawsuit was filed, ending a 31-year career.
“We’re very glad Chief Mielke is gone — but it’s too little, too late,” Wyckoff’s attorney, Hansbrough, told local media.