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.
“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, 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.
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, his 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.
