Blackman-Leoni public safety officer charged
with felonious assault against co-worker
Theresa
Ghiloni
JACKSON, MI – A Blackman-Leoni Township
Department of Public Safety officer accused of assaulting a co-worker with a
dangerous weapon has been arraigned on related charges.
Brent Doxtader, 40, was arraigned on a felony
charge of assault with a dangerous weapon in Jackson County District Court on
Thursday, July 24.
Doxtader was arraigned in front of Jackson
District Judge R. Darryl Mazur on the charge related to a Jan. 19 incident and
has posted a $2,500 personal bond, according to court documents.
The charge is related to an investigation by
the Michigan State Police First District Headquarters in Lansing at the request
of Blackman-Leoni Public Safety Director Mike Jester, MSP Detective Sgt. Thomas
DeClercq said.
In a news release Jester said Doxtader has been
on unpaid administrative since the investigation began.
DeClercq said his office completed an
investigation that led them to believe Doxtader assaulted a co-worker with a
"departmental weapon." In the news release Jester describes the
weapon as a handgun.
Court documents list David Lubahn, a
Blackman-Leoni township public safety officer, as the victim in the felonious
assault case.
Washtenaw County Prosecutor Brenda Taylor was
assigned the case after the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office deferred the
case to the Michigan Attorney General's Office, DeClercq said.
A felonious assault conviction carries with it
a sentence up to four years in prison, according to the Michigan Penal Code.
In 2009, a U.S. District Court Judge dismissed
a civil lawsuit against Doxtader that stated he and Blackman Township Public
Safety officer Kory Torbet used unreasonable force while restraining a man
suffering from low blood sugar.
Doxtader was disciplined after an internal
investigation of the complaint for being "very abrasive and unnecessarily
confrontational in his handling of the incident," according to the opinion
filed by Judge Marianne O. Battani.
In 2003, Doxtader resigned from a position as
the Village of Pigeon Police Chief after holding the position for 13 months,
according to a report from the Huron Daily Tribune. The report said Doxtader
had been accused of abusing his power in multiple ways before he submitted his
resignation.
A preliminary examination for Doxtader on the
felonious assault charge has been scheduled for Aug. 7.
Theresa Ghiloni is a public safety reporter at
the Jackson Citizen Patriot. Contact her at tghiloni@mlive.com. Follow her on
Twitter.