Durham police officer charged
with assaulting wife
DURHAM, N.C. — A Durham police
officer faces misdemeanor charges after he allegedly assaulted his wife.
Kammie Michael, a spokeswoman
for the Durham Police Department, said Wednesday that Michael Ladle Hodrick
Jr., 27, was arrested Aug. 31 on misdemeanor charges of assault on a female.
According to a magistrate's
order dated Aug. 30, he's accused of grabbing and twisting his wife's right
arm, pushing her against a wall and grabbing her right shoulder.
Hodrick, a patrol officer who
joined Durham police in 2011, is on administrative leave with pay while the
department's Professional Standards Division investigates the case, Michael
said.
Aurelia Sands Belle, executive
director of the Durham Crisis Center, said Wednesday that studies have shown an
increase in violent behavior for some people whose jobs deal with violence –
such as police officers and military members – because of an inability to
separate work and home.
"They learn and are taught
how to fight. They have weapons at their disposal, and they do have their own
internal support system," Belle said.
That can sometimes make getting
out of an abusive situation more difficult, she said.
Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez
couldn't comment on Hodrick's case but said that the city of Durham offers an
employee assistance program that provides relevant counseling to employees,
including officers.
He said officers also go
through domestic violence training during police academy and that recruits also
come in with family members to get a better understanding of what life is like
for an officer and what it's like living with one.
"We, as an organization,
really work toward understanding the family dynamic," Lopez said. "We
take any allegation of wrongdoings by an officer seriously."
