The Democratic Minneapolis police chief is out after reportedly being caught destroying evidence and tipping off a witness during an investigation.
Mayor Jacob Frey of the Democrat-dominated city announced Tuesday that Chief Brian O’Hara had resigned after aa investigation into allegations that he had sexual relationships with subordinates, and a second that found he interfered with the original probe into his conduct.
The scandal began last year when an anonymous complaint alleged that O’Hara had engaged in sexual relationships with his employees. An outside investigation was conducted, extensive interviews were completed, and the probe ultimately concluded that the allegations were not substantiated.
But investigators kept digging… and what they found next ended O’Hara’s career.
“Today I received a report of findings from an additional investigation that showed Chief O’Hara interfered with the investigation process,” Frey said at a press conference Tuesday. “Specifically, investigators found that he intentionally deleted a contact card for an individual from his city-issued cell phone during the original investigation in an attempt to shield that evidence of his connection to the person from investigators.”
“Even though he was instructed not to discuss the investigation itself with anyone, he told another city employee that his city cell phone had been taken from him for the investigation,” Frey said.
Frey was careful to note that investigators concluded the interference did not change the original finding. But he said the cover-up itself was disqualifying.
“Although the investigators have concluded that this interference does not change their ultimate conclusion contained in the original report, the interference itself is a breach of trust,” Frey said. “Because of that, I informed the chief that I would be disciplining him up to and including discharge, and he resigned. I have accepted his resignation.”
“Everyone makes mistakes, including me,” the mayor added. “But what I can’t allow is a breach of trust. When you serve as chief of the Minneapolis Police Department, trust is not secondary to the job. It is the job.”
Assistant Chief Katie Blackwell will serve as interim chief.