Sexual Misconduct Trial Of Dearborn Cop Set

DEARBORN, MI — A Dearborn police officer accused of groping a woman’s breast during a traffic stop last year will stand trial for sexual misconduct starting on June 28. Police Cpl. Justin Smith will face charges of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and “common law offenses” in front of Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Hathaway.

Dearborn Police suspended Smith without pay after the 2016 incident. The complaint was filed against Smith stemming from a May 2 traffic stop in the area of Telegraph and Cherry Hill roads. The then 32-year-old woman said in a preliminary court hearing that she had known the police officer for about four years prior to the incident. She told the court Smith reached in her vehicle and touched her left breast.

A dash cam video played in court showed Smith reaching into the vehicle as he walked away, but the audio had been manually turned off — a not “uncommon” practice when police stop someone they know, Lt. Gary Mann of the Dearborn Police Department testified. He said later the stop should have been recorded.
After the alleged incident, Smith returned to his squad car and drove away. The woman told her boyfriend, also a Dearborn police officer, about the incident about three weeks after the stop, and he reported it to superiors. The woman said he and Smith have “bad blood, according to a Detroit News report.

The woman also admitted during cross examination by Smith’s attorney, Greg Rohl, that she and Smith had exchanged text messages, including one that said “you scared me,” along with text shorthand, “LMAO,” but that she had never told him she found his conduct inappropriate. Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Danielle Hagaman-Clark described Smith’s actions as sexual conduct “during the commission of felony. No other incidents have been filed against Smith, a Dearborn police officer for about seven years, Mann said.

The woman said she is considering a lawsuit against the city. After the judge bound Smith over for trial, Rohl told The Detroit News that “anyone can make a career-killing claim in hopes of getting some money out of it.”
In an earlier statement Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad said an internal investigation into Smith’s alleged conduct is under way and that his department is “committed to remaining completely transparent in matters of this nature, and we will continue to do that during the course of this investigation.”

Beth Dalbey (Patch Staff) contributed to this report. Photo courtesy of the Dearborn Police Department.