DEARBORN, Mich. (WXYZ) — Darious Morris has been a Detroit police commissioner for less than a month, but his brief tenure has already proven to be one of the strangest in the board’s history.
Watch Ross Jones' video report:
Three days after saying he would resign from the board, Morris on Monday — through his attorneys — said he was going nowhere.
“We just wanted to make sure that there is no doubt about what we’re saying,” attorney Mohammad Azeem said. “And what we’re saying is — no matter what was said previously— right now, he’s not resigning.”
Related: Watch the full press conference with the attorneys representing Morris below
Last week, Morris defended himself from revelations that he threatened to shoot a Warren cop in 2023 after pulling up to a traffic stop he had nothing to do with.
Morris apologized for his actions, telling Channel 7’s Ross Jones that he was upset and wasn’t carrying a gun.
Then, Morris told Channel 7 that he was a changed man from his felony convictions more than a decade back, stemming from mortgage fraud allegations.
Related Story: Police commissioner who threatened cop says he will resign after 7 Investigation
“I shouldn’t have done that,” he said. “It was fraud.”
Last Thursday, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said she was taking a closer look at a 2021 gun charge against Morris that was dismissed when an officer failed to show up in court. Worthy asked that a warrant be resubmitted.
By Friday, Morris said he was resigning because of the negative reaction from the public to our reporting.
But by Monday, his attorneys at the Not Guilty Law group said Morris would be going nowhere.
“There’s been an outcry from the community, members calling him directly, asking him not to remove himself from office,” Azeem said. “So that’s why he retained our services, and more aptly, we’re here to say he’s not resigning.”
While Morris attended Monday’s press conference, he took no questions. He has come under fire not just for his criminal history, but for his dealings with police officers since being elected.
Body camera footage shows him pulling up to an active police scene in December, questioning officers in the midst of rendering aid during a reported overdose.
The following month, Morris filed a complaint against a lieutenant who asked him to go through a metal detector to enter the 9th precinct, then called for his commander to be fired on social media.
“They may not like this style,” attorney Edward Martell said. “He’s passionate about the community that he’s from, that he was born and raised in, that he’s returned to represent. That’s fine.”
Attorney Azeem said Morris’ desire is to “clean up the city and to have a form of oversight and to be present and to do what the people want. And what the people want is to be free from ‘corrupt cops.’ And I’m not saying they are.”
Contact 7 Investigator Ross Jones at ross.jones@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.
