Detroit police officers get probation for cover-up of chase that killed 19-year-old

Detroit police car (File photo)

Two Detroit police officers accused of failing to report a car chase that led to a fatal crash have been sentenced to one-year probations.

Officers Stephen Heid and Ronald Cadez were sentenced Wednesday to $500 fines, court costs and community service after their role in a chase that caused a crash resulting in them - then driving away and not reporting it. 

Nineteen-year-old Jerry Bradford Jr. of Detroit was the driver whom they chased and who died of his injuries at a hospital. Dispatchers were not notified last October of the chase or the crash. Authorities say the officers left the scene.

Both officers were suspended without pay, but have since been reinstated to their jobs by the Detroit Police Department.

Dispatchers were not notified last October of the chase or the crash. Authorities say the officers left the scene.

On Oct. 9, the officers pursued a vehicle with police lights on in the area of Maiden Street and Park Drive in Detroit. When the car was a block and a half away from the police, it crossed an intersection and crashed into another vehicle. 

Heid, 26,  and Cadez, 28, pleaded no contest in August to willful neglect of duty . A no-contest plea isn’t an admission of guilt, but is treated as such for sentencing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report