Crime

Video: This Detroit Police Commander Is Demoted After Hospitalizing Restaurant Patron

March 20, 2018, 3:28 PM


Michael Karpovich in 2015. (Facebook photo)

 

Detroit Police Cmdr. Timothy Leach has been suspended with pay and demoted to lieutenant following off-duty violence at an Italian restaurant during the March 11 St. Patrick's Day parade, The Detroit News reports. 

Leach was off-duty and working an unauthorized security job at Ottava Via, a Corktown restaurant, and ended up severely injuring and hospitalizing a customer he was ejecting, authorities say.

Leach, who owns a private security consulting firm on the side, was suspended for failing to report that he had used force on a customer inside the Michigan Avenue restaurant, Chief James Craig says. (See Fox 2 News video below.)

Michael Karpovich, 41, remains hospitalized with severe head injuries. "Doctors had to remove part of his skull to alleviate the pressure," a family attorney tells the paper.

The victim, who has a son, liven in a rural part of Washington Township in Macomb County. He has multiple skull fractures and a brain contusion, according to that lawyer, Metro Times reporter Violet Ikonomova writes in her second article about the case.

A detective who is under Leach’s command at the 11th Precinct was also was working at the Ottava Via when the altercation occurred, and is expected to be disciplined for working an unauthorized detail, Craig said, George Hunter writes at The News.

Craig, who promoted Leach to commander in 2016, said internal affairs detectived are investigating the incident for any policy violations. A task force of Detroit Police, Michigan State Police and the Drug Enforcement Administration is investigating to see if there were any criminal violations.

Craig also notified the FBI and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.

The police department has a secondary employment program in which officers may moonlight. Any officers working jobs outside that program must get annual approval from the department.


Read more:  The Detroit News


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