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DPD
Chief's
decisions,
moral
judgment
come
into
question
By COREY
WILLIAMS
Associated
Press
Writer
DETROIT,
Mich.
(AP) --
A female
officer
who is
dating
Detroit's
recently
fired
police
chief
was
previously
romantically
involved
with the
married
and
current
acting
chief,
and she
has the
text
messages
to prove
it.
David
Robinson,
a lawyer
for Lt.
Monique
Patterson,
said
Wednesday
that he
has more
than 100
text
messages
sent to
her in
2009 and
2010
from her
boss,
acting
Police
Chief
Ralph
Godbee,
including
messages
that
show the
two had
romantic
"rendezvous."
He said
Patterson
ended
her
relationship
with
Godbee
when she
started
dating
Warren
Evans
last
year.
Godbee,
in a
statement
released
by Mayor
Dave
Bing's
office,
referred
to the
texts as
of a
"personal
nature"
sent to
a
"colleague."
"This is
a
personal
challenge
that I
must
work
through
with my
family
and
myself,"
Godbee
said. "I
ask the
media
and
public
to
respect
my
family
and the
effort
to
resolve
this
privately."
Godbee
was in
command
of the
department
the
night of
the
police
raid
that
resulted
in the
accidental
killing
of 7
year old
Aiyana
Stanley
Jones.
Then
chief,
Warren
Evans
was with
Patterson,
out of
the
country
on
vacation.
Last
month,
Mayor
Dave
Bing
unexpectedly
fired
Evans
after
little
more
than a
year on
the job.
Among
the
reasons
he cited
was
Evans'
romantic
relationship
with a
subordinate,
Patterson,
and the
alleged
preferential
treatment
Evans
gave
her.
Bing
said in
a
strongly
worded
statement
Wednesday
that he
wasn't
considering
firing
Godbee
for
having
an
affair
with a
subordinate,
and that
Godbee
will
still be
among
those
considered
to run
the
department
on a
permanent
basis.
In this
Jan. 15,
2010
photo,
Detroit
police
chief
Warren
Evans
and Lt.
Monique
Patterson
walk
together
at the
Charity
preview
of the
North
American
International
Auto
Show at
Cobo
Center
in
Detroit.
Patterson,
a female
officer
who is
dating
Detroit's
recently
fired
police
chief
was
previously
romantically
involved
with the
married
and
current
acting
chief,
and she
has the
text
messages
to prove
it. (AP
Photo/The
Detroit
News,
Charles
V.
Tines)
Evans'
lawyer,
Mark
Zausmer,
said
Wednesday
that he
approached
Deputy
Mayor
Saul
Green "a
couple
of weeks
ago" to
disclose
the
existence
of the
text
messages
in the
hopes
that
Bing
might
"repair
the
damage
done
with a
hasty
termination
based on
bad
information."
"We
proposed
a
solution
that we
thought
was a
good one
for
everybody,"
Zausmer
said.
"The
solution
was to
find a
spot for
Evans
within
the city
to help
the city
and
serve
the
city.
"What
struck
us as
puzzling
is that
Warren
was
terminated,
in part,
because
he had a
fully
disclosed
relationship
with
somebody.
Protocols
were in
place.
She was
outside
his
command
and he
never
did
anything
to
advance
her
career.
Yet,
Chief
Godbee
doesn't
disclose
the
relationship
and
appears
to have
made
promises
in his
professional
capacity
to help
her
career."
Bing, in
his
statement,
shot
down
Evans'
attempt
to be
rehired.
"Appointees,
all of
whom
serve at
the
pleasure
of the
mayor,
are
retained
or
released
based on
their
uncompromised
ability
to
lead,"
Bing
said.
"Failed
attempts
of
personal
gain at
the
expense
of the
police
department
and city
at-large
are
unfortunate,
and
should
not be
tolerated."
Dan
Lijana,
a
spokesman
for the
mayor,
said
Bing and
Godbee
would
make no
further
statements
about
the
matter.
It was
little
more
than two
years
ago that
another
text
messaging
scandal
led
Detroit's
last
mayor to
resign
from
office
in
disgrace
and to
his
imprisonment.
Mayor
Kwame
Kilpatrick
pleaded
guilty
to
obstruction
of
justice
and
resigned
as mayor
in
September
2008
after
admitting
he lied
during a
whistleblowers'
lawsuit
trial
about
his
relationship
with one
of his
top
aides.
Text
messages
between
their
city-issued
pagers
were his
undoing.
After
beating
a field
of
candidates
that
included
Evans in
a
special
primary
election
following
Kilpatrick's
resignation,
Bing was
elected
last May
to
complete
Kilpatrick's
term and
hired
Evans,
who was
Wayne
County
sheriff,
to be
police
chief.
Bing was
elected
to a
four-year
term as
mayor
last
November.
Godbee
had
served
as
assistant
chief
under
Evans,
and was
in that
position
when he
met
Patterson.
"The
only
thing
that he
knew
about
Ms.
Patterson
was how
she
looked,"
Robinson
said.
"He told
her to
get on
his
staff to
advance
her
career.
Whatever
his
purpose
originally
was, it
became a
personal
purpose
to have
a
relationship
with
her."
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