DETROIT, Mich. (WXYZ) — A newly-elected Detroit police commissioner says he will resign from his position less than 24 hours after a 7 News Detroit investigation revealed his criminal history, including threatening to shoot a police officer in 2023.
Watch Ross Jones' video report:
“I don’t want the negativity to come on the board,” Darious Morris told Channel 7’s Ross Jones Friday.
Watch the investigation in the video player below:
“Me being a felon and the media being concerned with my past, I don’t want it to negatively affect the image of the entire board,” he said by phone. “If it’s what’s best for the people, I’m with it.”
During an interview with 7 News Detroit last week, Morris said his election to the board demonstrated that he was on the road to redemption and had learned from his mistakes.
“Based upon the responses from your news report, the public isn’t seeing it as that. It makes them look at the board in an unfavorable light," he said.
Morris said he has not yet submitted his resignation, but is in the process of doing so.
“I already have my city-issued laptop and all my stuff packed up and ready,” he said.
Warrant requested
Thursday afternoon, after 7 News Detroit first published the investigation into Morris, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's office said it was looking into a past weapons charge against Morris that had been dismissed.
The specific case involves a 2021 gun charge that was dropped after an officer on the case did not show up to court.
Morris told 7 News that he had been "arrested for weapons charges that was not on my persons (sic). The weapons charges were part of a vehicle in which I was in."
Morris maintained that the charge was dismissed because an officer involved in the case could not testify in court due to prior findings of untruthfulness, which law enforcement sources were not able to confirm at the time of publishing.
Morris said Friday that he trusts Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy to make the correct charging decision.
Clashes with DPD
During Morris’s short time on the board, he made an impression with several officers.
On December 28—before he was even sworn in—he pulled up to officers who had responded to a report of an overdose.
As police and medics help place a woman in the back of an ambulance, Morris is seen trying to talk to the officers.
"We're trying to help someone here," an officer says, waving Morris off while still dealing with the active scene.
The female officer can be heard telling a male officer: "He's saying he works for the board of police commissioners."
He responds: "I don't care who he works for."
Morris would file a complaint against the male officer at the scene,saying he was disrespectful towards him.
DPD says that officer's conduct is now being investigated.
Days later, Morris would come to the 9th Precinct saying he wanted help having a stolen vehicle investigated.
But after being told he could only enter the precinct if he went through the metal detector, Morris became upset.
"I'm doing my job as a commissioner," Morris said to the officer, who told him that everyone has to walk through the metal detector to enter the precinct.
Agitated, Morris tells the officer to "put your information on a piece of paper so I can get you wrote up."
He would later take to Facebook, posting a photo of the officer who directed him to walk through the metal detector and complaining about how he was treated.
Later, Morris would post an imagine of 9th Precinct Commander John Svec, calling the precinct "one of the worst performing precincts in DETROIT. A lot of black citizens have been reporting to em that they are being mistreated by officers out of that precinct. I even experienced disrespect by one of their officers."
"Get rid of Commander Svec immediately!" the post read.
Sandra Turner-Handy, the longtime president of the 9th Precinct Community Relations Council, said she's been troubled by Morris's short tenure on the board.
"We really don’t want things to get out of hand when it comes to police commissioners," she said. "We don’t want them thinking they’re the police, they roll up on crime scenes and want to get actively involved. That’s not their job. They’re not the police."
Commissioner's criminal history
Morris, who was elected as a write-in in a district where no candidate appeared on the ballot, has pleaded guilty to multiple felonies and spent time in prison.
As 7 News Detroit first reported Thursday, Morris's first conviction came following a 2009 incident where Morris was accused of forgery and impersonating a notary public.
“It was based upon real estate fraud,” Morris said. “It was taking homes from the bank that the bank got foreclosed on people, and we were fraudulently taking the deeds to the homes and deeding them over.”
“Did this make you a lot of money?” asked Channel 7’s Ross Jones.
“It made me, it made me—at my age—it made me a lot of money, and that was what was enticing about it.”
Morris would plead no contest and was sentenced to probation.
A year later, he would face more fraud charges that, he says, stemmed from the same criminal enterprise. He pleaded guilty this time and was sentenced to two years in prison.
“When I did do that prison sentence, one of the guys in there, he was doing life...he said to me, 'The only thing worse than being a fool is realizing you were a fool and you do nothing about it,'” Morris said.
He says he heeded his advice, maintaining a clean criminal record for the next 12 years.
That changed in 2023, when Warren police officers pulled over a mini-bike they said wasn’t street legal. They would learn that its driver did not have a license.
It was then that Morris can be seen pulling up to the scene. Seen wearing a red t-shirt, Morris told 7 News Detroit he wanted to observe the stop and make sure the officers did everything by the book.
An officer could be heard telling Morris to “stand by the vehicle, please. If you interfere with this stop, understand you are not allowed to.”
After police detained the driver of the mini-bike, Morris can be seen placing a silver badge around his neck.
Warren Police later claimed Morris said he was a “Detroit Police Department Chaplain at the 9th Precinct,” which he is not.
Morris says that’s not true; he is a chaplain, just not with DPD. He bought the badge online, records show.
As police prepare to tow the mini-bike, the scene begins to devolve. Family members of the driver had now arrived at the police stop, tempers are flaring and Morris can be heard yelling.
“You three guys are good! This guy’s an idiot! You’re an idiot!” Morris said, referencing one of the officers.
“I’m done, I’m talking to you,” the officer responded.
As the officer is about to get into his vehicle, Morris can be heard shouting: “If you’d have put your hands on him, I would have shot you!”
Morris and the officer exchanged more yelling, with the department saying Morris took a “fighting stance.”
Morris would plead guilty to assaulting, resisting or obstructing a police officer and was sentenced to probation.
He says today that he was wrong and later apologized to the officer, but does not believe what he did should disqualify him from overseeing or disciplining Detroit police officers.
Contact 7 Investigator Ross Jones at ross.jones@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.