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John Leacher, deputy police chief in
Romulus, responded recently to allegations
of ongoing corruption and a cover up of a
suspected use of excessive force that took
place last year.
The issue stems fromawhistleblower law-
suit filed against the city about an incident
that took place in August of 2012, and the
public comments a recent last city council
meeting about them.
“There was no cover up of the incident,
nor is there any ongoing corruption at the
Romulus Police Department,” Leacher told
the council members at the May 13 regular
meeting. “We believe this lawsuit is without
merit and, after proper legal review, will be
dismissed relatively quickly.”
Leacher said he couldn't talk about the
specifics of the case due to the pending legal
action, but he was able to inform the council
members and public of the generalities of
the case. It started in August of 2012, when a
white male was arrested by an African-
American police officer for possession of
narcotics.
“Throughout the arrest process, the pris-
oner continually used racial slurs and racial
threats against the officer and at one point,
after he was handcuffed to bench in the pris-
oner holding area, he used one last racial
slur and then spit on the officer,” Leacher
said. “The officer then lost his temper and
wrongfully punched the prisoner one time to
the side of his face.”
The officer immediately reported the inci-
dent to his supervisor andwas removed from
the booking process, Leacher said. The pris-
oner was offered the opportunity to press
criminal and departmental charges against
the officer but declined, according to
Leacher. He was provided with a citizen's
complaint packet and released onbond.
“The following day and one more time in
the following month-three times in all-the
prisoner was offered the opportunity to press
criminal and departmental charges and each
time declined to do so,” Leacher said. “In
fact, the prisoner was so embarrassed by
what he did and what he said that he said to
us: 'If I was the officer and someone was say-
ing the same things I said to the officer, I
would have done the same thing to that per-
son'.”
The Romulus police officer was disci-
plined for the incident, Leacher said, and
voluntarily attended an apology and healing
session with the prisoner. He has participat-
ed in anger management training and coun-
seling, too.
The whistleblower suit stemmed from the
allegation that the video of the incident was
not turned over to attorneys representing
one of the police officers charged in the 2011
police corruption case as well as the attorney
representing the whistleblower and that
copies of it had since beendestroyed.
Leacher said the prisoner requested that
the video not be released to those attorneys,
a request that was upheld by aWayne County
Circuit Court judge. The video of the booking
incident was made available to the judge,
proving that the evidence was not destroyed,
Leacher said.
“Due to the fact that the department had
multiple copies of the incident on DVD, the
whistleblower was advised, on advice of the
city attorney, to remove copies of the incident
he had on his work computer and any other
storage device,” Leacher said.
The Michigan Attorney General's office
investigated the incident and found no cover
up or destruction of evidence, according to
Leacher.
“All use of force incidents are scrutinized
at multiple levels of the police department,”
he said, referencing the shift commander, a
captain, and himself. “We take all use of
force matters seriously and I can assure you
that any inappropriate use of force or any
other inappropriate actions on the part of
our officers will be fully investigated and not
tolerated.”
A
SSOCIATED
N
EWSPAPERS OF
M
ICHIGAN
P
AGE
5
May 30, 2013
R
OMULUS
A busy election season got offi-
cially under way last week when
Leroy Burcroff, one of four candi-
dates for mayor of Romulus,
opened his campaign headquar-
ters at his family's old furniture
store onWayneRoad.
“I love my community,” said
Burcroff. “This is about the City of
Romulus.”
Burcroff has served on the
council for 16 years and served as
the mayor pro tem since 2009. He's
one of two incumbent council
members to seek the office of the
mayor-EvaWebb is the other.
Burcroff had obtained petitions
to run for re-election to the council
but decided to seek the office of
mayor instead in the wake of the
current controversy with incum-
bent Alan Lambert. Officers from
the Michigan State Police instigat-
ed a search warrant on Lambert's
house March 25 as part of an ongo-
ing investigation that neither side
has commentedmuch about.
“I became a candidate when it
became clear that therewas to be a
change in administration, and I
believe I bring more to the table to
positively impact this community
than the other candidates that
have come forward,” Burcroff said.
“We must restore public faith and
trust in our government and that is
donewith stable, informed and log-
ical decision-making.”
Lambert is not seeking re-elec-
tion. Frequent city critic Charles
Miller and Craig Plank are the
other twomayoral candidates.
There will be a substantial
turnover on the city council this
year. In addition to the four may-
oral candidates, there are 15 candi-
dates for the seven open city coun-
cil seats, and incumbent City
Councilman William Crova is not
among them. That means there
will be at least three newmembers
on the council, since Burcroff and
Webb cannot run for two positions
at once. The top two vote-getters in
the mayoral race and 14 council
candidates after the Aug. 6 pri-
mary will go on to the November
ballot.
Council candidates include
incumbents John Barden, Linda R.
Choate, Celeste Roscoe and
WilliamJ. Wadsworth. Also seeking
election to the council are Harry
Crout, who served in the office pre-
viously, Kathleen Abdo, Bronson
Bell, Dean A. Gilbert, Tony
Heimberger, Jacqueline M.
Kaifesh, Sylvia J. Makowski,
Robert W. McLachlan, James L.
Napiorkowski, Virginia Williams
andDaniel J.Wood.
Incumbent Clerk Ellen Craig-
Bragg will be opposed by Ucal P.
Finley.
Filing petitions for the office of
City Treasurer were incumbent
Stacy Paige and Kathleen
Lindroth.
Burcroff holds an upper-level
management position for an indus-
trial supply company, and said that
his 30 years of business expertise
coupled with his time on the coun-
cil and training through the
Michigan Municipal League make
him the best candidate for the
mayoral spot.
Given the political environment
in the city and the number of can-
didates involved in the election
this year, there is a potential for the
campaign season to be a negative
one. At the open house last week,
Burcroff promised the dozens of
supporters who attended that he
would run a clean campaign and
said he hoped that all the other
candidateswould, aswell.
“At the end of the day, I want
this to be something to be proud
of,” he said.
At the end of the day,
I want this to be
something to be proud of.
”
I would have done
the same thing
to that person.
”
Number of candidates means Aug. 6 primary election
Deputy police chief says lawsuit is ‘without merit’
Correction
In a story last week, City Councilwoman Celeste Roscoe was inadvertently not named as
an incumbent candidate for theRomulus CityCouncil. Roscoe is, in fact, an incumbent.
TheRomulusRoman regrets the error and any confusion itmay have caused.