‘Not Resigning!’: Detroit Police Commissioner Stays Put After Criminal Past Is Exposed — Including Threat to Shoot Fellow Cop
A newly elected Detroit police commissioner has abandoned his pledge to step down amid growing calls for his resignation after a local news investigation revealed his criminal history, including an incident in which he threatened to shoot a police officer. Darious Morris won a write-in election in November 2025, earning 72% of the votes in a district where no candidate was listed on the ballot and landing a seat on Detroit's Board of Police Commissioners. Detroit Board of Police Commissioner Darious Morris (Photo: Instagram/crimenewsinthed) According to the Detroit Free Press, the 38-year-old real estate agent ran a campaign pledging to connect Detroit youth and law enforcement in District 3, which is known as one of the city's most embattled districts. Just weeks after he was sworn in, a local report from WXYZ revealed Morris's criminal record going back to 2009. ‘I’m Not Resisting!’: Florida Cop Accuses a Black Driver of Fighting Back, Slaps Him Three Times — Then a Bystander Captures What Never Made It to the Report His first conviction came that year when he was accused of forgery and impersonating a notary public. Morris pleaded no contest and was sentenced to probation. “It was based upon real estate fraud,” Morris told WXYZ. “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. 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 faced similar charges again a year later for engaging in the same illegal activity. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years in prison. His next arrest was in 2023 after he happened upon a traffic stop where officers were questioning a mini-bike driver who didn't have a license. Morris said he wanted to ensure it was a lawful encounter, so he put a silver badge that he bought online around his neck. According to Detroit Police, Morris allegedly identified himself as “Detroit Police Department Chaplain at the 9th Precinct.” An officer issued him a warning to stay by his car, but Morris intervened anyway. Bodycam footage caught the incident. Tensions rose, and the scene devolved. Morris was heard yelling, “You three guys are good! This guy’s an idiot! You’re an idiot!” — a reference to one of the officers. As the officer walks away from the scene, Morris shouts, “If you’d have put your hands on him, I would have shot you!” Morris ended up pleading guilty to assaulting, resisting or obstructing a police officer and was sentenced to probation. He said he later apologized to the officer he shouted at. Regarding his police chaplain claims, Morris maintained that he did serve as a chaplain, but for his ministry, "Dee Lee Community Impact Ministry." He claimed that the outreach organization is licensed by the state, and the badge he purchased reflects that. After news of Morris' criminal background came to light, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced that her office was looking into a 2021 weapons charge against Morris that had been dismissed. Morris said the charge stemmed from a weapon that wasn't on his person, but was in a vehicle that he was in. An officer involved in the case didn't show up to court, and the case was dropped. Morris claimed the officers could not testify in court due to prior findings of untruthfulness. Bodycam footage that caught his arrest showed Morris put a silver badge around his neck again, identify himself as a police chaplain, and deny ever having been incarcerated. That footage is now at the center of Worthy's new investigation into the case. In the days after Morris was sworn in as a police commissioner, he stirred community tensions following heated disputes with two officers. In the first instance, he pulled up to the scene of an overdose, but one cop tried to dismiss him from the area. After Morris identified himself as a police commissioner to another cop, the officer who initially dismissed him reportedly said, "I don't care who he works for." Morris filed a complaint against that officer, citing disrespect. Days after that interaction, Morris took to social media to accuse officers in one of the precincts he oversees of racist treatment. He said he walked into the 9th Precinct to get a stolen vehicle investigated, and was told he had to walk through the metal detector. The order reportedly upset Morris, and he used his position to try to access the building a different way. "I'm doing my job as a commissioner," Morris said to the officer. When the cop on duty still instructed Morris to enter through the metal detector, he told the officer to "put your information on a piece of paper so I can get you wrote up." He later posted about the interaction on Facebook and called 9th Precinct Commander John Svec "one of the worst performing precincts in DETROIT." "A lot of black citizens have been reporting to em that they are being mistreated by officers out of that precinct," Morris wrote. "I even experienced disrespect by one of their officers. "Get rid of Commander Svec immediately!" Afterward, two police unions called for Morris' resignation. William Johnson, executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations, wrote a letter to the Board of Commissioners accusing Morris of "alarming anti-police rhetoric" and "inflammatory speech" that sowed distrust in the police department. "Upon being sworn in on December 17, 2025, Commissioner Morris stated that he was eager to improve the relationship between the youth of Detroit and the Police Department. Not even a month later, he is instigating citizens against police officers … it is beyond the pale for a Police Comissioner to dox these officers," Johnson wrote. The criticism reached Morris, and only a day after the news investigation into his criminal background was published, he announced he was tendering his resignation. “I don’t want the negativity to come on the board,” Morris said. “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. If it’s what’s best for the people, I’m with it.” However, just days after the announcement, his newly hired attorneys recanted his pledge at a news conference. “No matter what was said previously, right now, he’s not resigning," said Mohammed Nasser of Dearborn-based Not Guilty Law, one of Morris’ attorneys.
