DETROIT (AP) - A Detroit police command officer has been suspended with pay following an incident at a bar that left another man hospitalized with head injuries.
Eleventh Precinct Cmdr. Timothy Leach was off-duty and in an “unauthorized outside employment capacity” on March 11 when 41-year-old Michael Karpovich was hurt, Chief James Craig told reporters Tuesday.
“(Karpovich) was involved with a person working as a bouncer,” Craig said. “He was taken to the ground. Force was used.”
Karpovich, of Washington Township in Macomb County, suffered skull fractures, according to an attorney representing his family.
Criminal and internal investigations are underway, Craig said.
Outside work has to be authorized and “every member of this department is required that whenever they use force - on or off-duty - that they shall report it immediately,” Craig said. “That did not happen. Because of this failure to report and because we’re talking about someone at the rank of commander, that certainly brought significant discredit to the department.”
Leach was not approved to work a second job inside a tavern, Craig added.
“As a matter of practice, I don’t approve outside employment inside of bars,” he said. “When you talk about security in a bar, if an officer is in uniform that’s one thing. When you’re not in uniform, it’s always the issue of whether or not this person is a police officer.”
The incident initially was reported to police, emergency responders and hospital officials as a slip and fall. But several days later, investigators reviewed video of the incident after learning an assault may have occurred.
The Associated Press was unable Tuesday to find phone numbers for Leach or the union that represents Detroit police command officers.
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