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Detroit — A Detroit police commissioner is suing the Detroit Police Department, two police unions and four officers, claiming they defamed him by filing complaints against him that were later dismissed and badmouthing him.
Darious Morris, who was elected as a write-in candidate to the civilian police oversight board in November to represent District 3, argued in the lawsuit that DPD command officers launched a “campaign of defamation and harassmentâ€Â against him by falsely accusing him of doxing police officers after he complained about in two incidents in January on social media.
Conrad Mallet, the city’s corporation counsel, said Morris may have created a conflict by suing officers over whom he has oversight.
The rancor between Morris and some officers stemmed from two separate incidents on Jan. 10 and Jan. 24. In two written complaints, Morris was accused of attempting to intimidate officers when he wasn’t allowed into a precinct without passing through the metal detector and, weeks later, when inquiring about an acquaintance who’d been detained.
Following the incidents, the complaints alleged, Morris abused his position by posting personal details about officers on Facebook.
But Detroit’s Office of the Inspector General in March found the information Morris posted was publicly available online and not a violation. Following the OIG report, Morris told The Detroit News he thought there was a coordinated attempt to force him off the police board.
A complaint about Morris to the city’s Board of Ethics was also not sustained, according to the lawsuit.
“It’s very simple: The defendants in this case orchestrated a campaign of lies against Commissioner Morris that’s resulted in damages to his reputation, and for that, justice demands that they be held accountable,” said Morris’ attorney, Edward Martell of Not Guilty Law in Dearborn.
The lawsuit, filed June 8 in Wayne County Circuit Court, names as defendants the city of Detroit, the Detroit Police Department, the Detroit Police Command Officers Association and the Detroit Police Lieutenants and Sergeants Association, along with four officers — Stacy Alvarado, Sonia Russell, Matthew Fulgenzi and Mark Young.
Young, president of the Lieutenants and Sergeants Association, said Friday he was planning a response to the lawsuit, although it was not immediately available. Attempts to reach the Command Officers Association and other defendants were not successful.
The lawsuit claimed the defendants made false accusations against Morris even after the OIG found there was no merit to the allegations.
“As command officers of the Detroit Police Department, the officers knew or should have known that the statements were false or made the statements with reckless regard for their truth,” the 14-page lawsuit said.
Mallet’s conflict comment about Morris draws rebuke
While Mallet wouldn’t comment on the lawsuit itself, he said Morris may have created a conflict of interest by filing it.
“We are not going to comment on Commissioner Morris’ lawsuit or the allegations he has made in it,” Mallet said in a statement. “We will respond to those in our own written response to the court.
“However, outside of the details of the lawsuit, we are looking very closely at whether his decision to sue some of the same DPD personnel over whom he has oversight authority creates an irreconcilable conflict in his ability to continue to serve as a police commissioner.”Â
Martell fired back that Mallet, not Morris, had the conflict.
“The only conflict of interest present here is the Law Department, specifically (Mallet), representing the defendants in this lawsuit and the investigating body,” Martell said. “Commissioner Morris remains steadfast and will continue serving the people.”
Morris gets elected after run-ins with the law
Morris, 38, was elected to the police board just nine months after he was released from probation following his guilty plea for assaulting a police officer in 2023. The charges stemmed from Warren, where he threatened to shoot a police officer. Morris also pleaded guilty in 2009 to impersonating a public official and forgery. He served two years in prison.
On Nov. 30, 2021, Morris was charged with being a felon in possession of a weapon, and a warrant for his arrest was issued on Dec. 2, 2021, after the Detroit police questioned him in a gas station parking lot. Because he has a criminal record, he is not allowed to carry a pistol, and he was charged with being a felon in possession of a weapon, which carries an automatic two years in prison.
The case was dropped after Detroit police officers failed to appear at his March 22, 2022, preliminary examination in 36th District Court. Prosecutors decided to recharge Morris after The Detroit News contacted the office to find out what happened to the 2021 gun case, which did not have a disposition posted on the Wayne County Circuit Court’s website.
On Jan. 20, DPD resubmitted the warrant request. While looking into the case, it was discovered that the weapon had been destroyed by the Detroit Police Department in 2024. Because the evidence in the case was gone, the warrant was denied.
ghunter@detroitnews.com
(313) 222-2134
@GeorgeHunter_DN
