Detroit sergeant, officer suspended without pay for contacting Border Patrol during traffic stop

DETROIT (FOX 2) - A Detroit police sergeant and officer were suspended without pay after the department chief said they contacted immigration authorities during a traffic stop.

Big picture view:

This comes after that sergeant, Denise Wallet, filed a lawsuit against the city to keep her job earlier on Thursday. She was previously suspended with pay after she sought help from Border Patrol in early February when a motorist provided a fraudulent driver's license. 

Wallet filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging her constitutional rights had been violated. She also filed a temporary restraining order to prevent chief Todd Bettison from firing her. 

That original order was denied by a judge, according to her attorney, because it lacked an affidavit.

Later on Thursday, Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison went to the Board of Police Commissioners (PBOC), requesting that she be suspended without pay. The PBOC would agree, voting to suspend her without pay for 30 days. The same fate was given to the other officer.

Dig deeper:

In Sgt. Wallet’s case, she was called to the scene to handle a language barrier with the person in question. Then, according to Bettison, she called Border Patrol for translation help. 

Border Patrol responded and detained the person.

DPD’s policy states that an officer can not do that. 

Wallet’s attorney, Solomon Radner, says a separate officer at the scene was handling translation. He says Wallet called Border Patrol to help identify the person after a fingerprint scanner didn’t work. 

Attorney Radner says it’s not against policy to call Border Patrol to help identify people.

Meanwhile, a federal lawsuit is in the works, claiming the sergeant’s due process was violated, and her union will undoubtedly fight it as well.

The backstory:

Wallet responded to a traffic stop on Feb. 9 after an officer's request for a supervisor around 3:15 p.m.

The reason was because the driver could not be identified after providing a photo of a fraudulent electronic Michigan driver's license. 

After attempts to identify the subject were unsuccessful, Wallet called U.S. Border Patrol "solely for the purpose of identifying the individual who was in custody, not to enforce immigration law or to inquire into the subject's immigration status."

Border patrol agents later arrived and took the driver into custody "for violation of immigration laws," according to the federal suit.

Bettison suspended the officer on Feb. 10. 

What's next:

The other officer, who was suspended, apparently called Border Patrol while investigating a felony warrant. 

He suspected the person was undocumented, and that individual was detained by Border Patrol. During the suspension, both officers will be able to keep their medical benefits.