DETROIT (WWJ) -- The Detroit police sergeant who was suspended for his response to the fatal shooting of Detroit officer Rasheen McClain was fired in 2014 for similar conduct, police chief James Craig said Tuesday.
Sgt. Ronald Kidd is suspended with pay, but could face a charge of willful neglect of duty after his inaction the night McClain was killed on Detroit's west side. Craig said at a news conference Tuesday that Sgt. Kidd was about a block away from the scene, but failed to take action as supervisors in the department are expected to do.
"As troubling as him not going directly to the scene is the fact that at one point, he’s in conversation with what appeared to be a newer officer, standing next to his cruiser, and suddenly you see roughly four to five officers running in a direction, possibly where the suspect was concealed," Craig said. "And all he could say was ‘they must know something that we don’t know.'"
Craig said a review of Kidd's body camera footage shows he did not immediately respond to the scene and was heard saying "we should get cover."
McClain, a 16-year veteran of the department working out of the 12th Precinct, was shot in the neck as he and his partner responded to a call of a home invasion in progress on Nov. 20 in the area of Wyoming and 8 Mile Road. The chief says McClain was the initial supervisor of the scene that night, putting together a plan and calling for backup, including another supervisor.
Craig says several other supervisors responded to the scene immediately and took charge of the situation, including Sgt. John Claiborne, who had been assigned to desk duty that night, but quickly jumped into action. Kidd however, neglected to take appropriate action, according to Craig.
"Sgt. Kidd was very aware of what was happening. He was listening to the radio, because when we looked at his video, we could listen to the officer saying 'he’s been shot, he’s been shot,'" Craig said.
Craig told reporters Tuesday that Kidd had been terminated in 2014 after camera footage showed him sitting idly by as a female Detroit police officer was physically assaulted at a detention center. Kidd had initially been fired after the case was reviewed by an internal disciplinary board, but he got his job back after a 65-day suspension.
Craig said someone forged his signature on the agreement that lowered his punishment from being fired to the suspension.
"I wouldn't have entered into that kind of deal, and when I looked at the agreement, someone signed my name agreeing to this," Craig said. "Someone scrawled a signature, but that absolutely is not my signature. So I'm trying to find out what happened."
The chief says he vividly remembers the video of the female officer being assaulted and says "there's no way I'd have signed that agreement."
The department is conducting a review of Kidd's actions and Craig says he expects they will "act swiftly."