Like a pack of rabid dogs, Detroit cops from two different precincts found themselves in the same house last Thursday and then turned on each other. Now, two Detroit Police officers are off the streets and a supervisor has been removed from special operations because the cops nearly killed each other inside this person's home.
Detroit Police Chief James Craig told WXYZ this could have ended with deaths and could also result in criminal and administrative charges.
Craig said he is going to turn over findings to the prosecutor for possible assault charges, as some officers threw punches.
"They were like Keystone Cops," Craig said. "Very embarrassing to this organization." For those that don't know, the Keystone Cops (often spelled "Keystone Kops") were fictional incompetent policemen, featured in silent film comedies in the early 20th century.
The confrontation and subsequent mass temper tantrum happened as more than two dozen officers descended upon a house, heavily armed. The group conducting the raid was unaware that their targets were undercover officers posing as drug dealers.
According to WXYZ, the chief confirmed that officers from the 11th precinct conducted the raid, executing a search warrant when they confronted undercover officers posing as drug dealers from the 12th precinct.
As the SWAT team cops entered the home, the undercovers revealed themselves as not to get killed. However, that's when all hell broke loose.
Seemingly still wanting to smash some heads, officers escalated the situation with one another and threats turned to blows.
"It appears that this supervisor did not have control of the situation," Craig added, "and had a tendency to get the officers from the 12th Precinct excited to the point we have this very embarrassing situation."
The embarrassing and violent clash following the disappearance of professionalism and loss of tempers resulted in one officer needing to be taken to hospital for treatment.
The department's top cops were notified along with Internal Affairs, according to FOX 2. Each officer involved is now under investigation as the department tried to determine what went wrong.
"You've gotta have to have more communication, I guess," said a resident who witnessed the breakdown. "I don't understand what happened about that - communicate."
Sadly, however, this is not the first time Detroit cops have lost it and turned on each other. In that instance though, according to Detroit's former assistant chief of police, two officers were killed.
If you think this type of incident is isolated, consider the fact that the city of Albuquerque paid out a settlement in the amount of $6.5 million last year to one of their own officers who was repeatedly shot by a fellow cop.
As we previously reported, Officer Jacob Grant was critically wounded after being shot multiple times by Lieutenant Greg Brachle during an undercover drug bust. Both officers were undercover at the time of the shooting.
According to the criminal complaint, Grant and his partner Holly Garcia met a suspect to buy $60 worth of "shards," another term for meth. The suspects got into Garcia's car, and she drove them to an Econo Lodge Motel. One of the suspects went into a room and returned to Garcia's vehicle with the meth.
Garcia then went to a McDonald's parking lot and gave the signal to begin the bust, the shooting took place shortly after.
A day after the settlement paid out, the APD released the horrific lapel cam showing Lt. Brachle approach the undercover cop and unload on his fellow officer.
According to Grant's tort claim, there were multiple reasons Brachle should not have fired the shots into the vehicle. Grant points out in the notice that Brachle knew him well, knew what clothes he was wearing, and even knew exactly where he would be sitting in the car. The court document states that there was no threat, and "rather than cease fire, Lt. Brachle instead re-positioned himself...and continued to fire," shooting until his gun was empty.
That incident was also captured on video.
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