A Detroit cop posted comments on Facebook Tuesday calling city residents “garbage” and bragged that he used to “hit them with “handcuffs in the head” and “smack” children in the face, Steve Neavling of Motor City Muckraker reports. The officer called Detroit "just a nasty place" he would never live in.
The force's internal affairs unit launched an investigation, authorities says.
Daniel Wolff, who works in the Second Precinct and lives in the suburbs, made the remarks in response to a Muckraker story about an increasing number of Detroit officers choosing to live outside the city.
“Getting rid of residency was the best thing that ever happened to the Detroit Police!!!!! We have to police the garbage but you can’t make us live in the garbage," he said on Facebook.
Wolff bemoaned phone cameras, saying: “You can’t walk up to a kid or asshole and smack him in the face like we did," Neavling reports.
Police spokesman Sgt. Michael Woody tells Deadline Detroit the department takes the matter seriously and expects to take some action. Chief James Craig is "deeply concerned" and finds the comments "absolutely inappropriate," Woody adds.
