DETROIT — In addition to accusing a Detroit police sergeant of skirting department policy by calling federal immigration authorities on a motorist during a Feb. 9 traffic stop, Detroit police officials alleged Wednesday that she also mocked the man's inability to speak English.

But when The Detroit News asked police officials for details about the allegation, they said they were rescinding the charge, although they said Sgt. Denise Wallet is still being investigated for violating the policy against biased policing.

The allegations came a day after someone leaked bodycam videos to YouTube showing part of the traffic stop in downtown Detroit that led to Wallet's unpaid suspension — although a significant portion of the video, which was obtained by The Detroit News, was omitted from the leak.

During the stop, Wallet contacted U.S. Border Patrol agents and asked for help identifying the motorist, the videos show. Federal agents arrested the man, who was in the United States illegally.

Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison said Wallet's actions violated department policy, and he suspended her. The chief initially said he also planned to fire Wallet and Officer James Corsi for allegedly violating policy by contacting federal immigration authorities for help in separate incidents. But Bettison changed his mind a day after the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners voted 10-0 to withhold the two officers' pay, while allowing them to keep their health coverage.

Detroit police officials sent an email to media outlets Wednesday that confirmed the authenticity of the bodycam videos on YouTube, which were uploaded by "Video Savage," an account that was created Tuesday.

In one of the YouTube videos, Wallet is shown having a conversation with a fellow officer who complained that the Detroit Police Department policy preventing them from contacting federal immigration authorities might result in someone who was on the FBI's Most Wanted List going free.

"And I don’t want to be the reason that, you know, somebody who shouldn’t be getting away gets away," Wallet replies, according to the video, "... and then ... it turns out he was Pablo Escobar Junior" — a reference to the Colombian drug kingpin who was killed in 1993.

Detroit Police said in an email that Wallet's statement was being investigated as a potential policy violation.

“The sergeant in the video who is accused of violating our department’s policy used more than one identifying factor of bias-based policing,” the email said. “One concern of the investigation is where the sergeant engages in a conversation with a subordinate mocking the individual in custody for the lack of their ability to speak English and even goes as far as to referring to the individual as possibly being Pablo Escobar Jr."

But after The News asked where in the videos Wallet allegedly mocked the motorist, police officials said a further review of the footage showed there wasn't enough evidence to support the allegation.

Wallet's attorney Solomon Radner said in a statement: "Perhaps they’re desperate and it’s sad, and frankly getting pathetic. Rather than admitting they were wrong, they are now reviewing every second of that video, desperately searching for any violation they can find, no matter how inconsequential or technical, so they can say, 'See? She did violate policy!'

"She did absolutely nothing wrong during that stop. She was respectful and professional. Any claim to the contrary is based in fiction — not fact."

Footage omitted

Seven videos of bodycam footage were uploaded to YouTube, with one clip posted twice. But left out was the portion of footage that appears to show Wallet obtaining permission from a lieutenant to call U.S. Border Patrol agents to help identify the man who'd been stopped by police at Woodward and Witherell in downtown near Comerica Park.

When asked why the lieutenant wasn't also disciplined for appearing to grant Wallet permission to contact federal agents, Detroit police officials said: "The member’s command is investigating the whole matter and all involved, including the lieutenant. However, the current duty status change for this incident is focused on the sergeant who was on scene and in charge of the scene and violated the department’s policy regarding bias-based policing."

Radner said the entire bodycam video of the incident shows his client's innocence.

"At the (Board of Police Commissioners) hearing, the entire body cam video was never even played," he said. "Only bits and pieces. When all the evidence, including the entire body cam video, is examined fully and impartially by a court of law, it will unequivocally clear Sgt. Wallet’s good name.”

Radner last week filed a lawsuit on Wallet's behalf in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, claiming the 27-year Detroit police veteran first obtained permission from her lieutenant to call Border Patrol. The lawsuit claimed the suspension violated Wallet's due process rights.

According to the Detroit Police policy that was attached to the lawsuit, officers are not allowed to contact federal agents for immigration matters or translation services. The lawsuit maintains that Wallet called Border Patrol for help identifying the motorist, which isn't covered in the policy. The suit also said a lieutenant gave Wallet the go-ahead to contact federal authorities.

Wallet's lawsuit further argued that her behavior didn't warrant a suspension without a hearing. According to Detroit Police Manual Rule 102.4-2.3: "Supervisors are authorized to summarily suspend a member (with pay) in circumstances where a member's alleged conduct is so egregious, insubordinate, or threatening that the Department should not allow the member to carry on as a law enforcement officer. Such suspensions are strictly for the purpose of preserving order and efficiency and are not to be used as a form of discipline."

The lawsuit said: "Any claim that contacting Border Patrol, as ordered to by her lieutenant, and in a manner that clearly and obviously does not even violate any DPD policy, in no universe reaches such a high level."

The Detroit Police Department hasn't responded to requests for comment on the lawsuit.

In addition to the lawsuit, Radner also filed an emergency temporary restraining order seeking to prevent Wallet's firing. Hours after Bettison's announcement that the officers wouldn't be terminated, Radner filed a second TRO request. A hearing has not yet been set.

'What do we do with this?'

Officers who made the Feb. 9 traffic stop called Wallet to help fingerprint the motorist, according to police officials. The bodycam videos on YouTube show Wallet using a portable device to get the man's prints, although it took 40 minutes for the results to come back with no hits.

The motorist, whose vehicle had an Oklahoma license plate, gave officers a photo of an identification card showing an address on Vicksburg Street on Detroit's northwest side. When Wallet looked up the house on Google, she said it appeared uninhabitable.

After no hits came back on the man's prints, an officer is heard on the bodycam asking: "So what do we do with this? Give him a ticket? Take him to jail? He's going to be NOP (no operator’s license). He’s got some problems."

Wallet replied: "You can tell him he’s going to jail because we’ve got to identify him."

Another officer says: "We have no espanio (officers who speak Spanish)."

"I’ve got somebody that would identify him, but they’re not going to want me to call him," Wallet said.

"I was thinking ICE," another officer said. "He’d be gone."

"I've got a guy," Wallet said.

According to the video, Wallet then phoned someone her attorney identified as her supervisor, a lieutenant.

"I have a work-related question," Wallet asked, before saying she got no hits from her fingerprint scanner.

"We do not know who he is," Wallet said about the motorist. "He is Venezuelan. I don't know if this is ... I know they don't want us to do anything with ICE; I'm not saying they're going to deport the guy. Could we confirm his ... he's got a work ID but it's not a very good one ... to confirm that's who he is? He doesn't have a driver's license; it's just a picture."

After a pause, Wallet told the person on the phone that the man's car is getting impounded and that he could be arrested for driving without a license.

"This is also touchier, because he is Venezuelan," she said. "Is he a legal resident? I don't know. I'm not going to, you know. ... Can we do that? Okay."

Wallet said she doesn't have the number for Border Patrol, and after she hangs up, she asked another officer for the number, according to the video.

The clip uploaded to YouTube picks up immediately after Wallet appeared to obtain permission to contact Border Patrol.

While waiting for federal agents to show up, an unidentified male officer is heard on the video saying: "The only problem I have with not thoroughly identifying someone is, you never know if they could be on the FBI’s Most Wanted List. That's the one problem I have with it."

'There's politics involved'

When Border Patrol agents showed up, they determined the motorist had entered the country illegally, the bodycam video shows.

"The law is that he’s removable and he needs to be arrested and processed accordingly," a Border Patrol agent told a group of Detroit officers that included Wallet. "... It all depends what you guys want us to do ..., that’s why I’m asking. Obviously, there’s politics involved."

"That’s why the initially BP (was) called and not anything else," Wallet said.

The agent repeated: "He’s arrestable."

"Yeah, you guys take him, and you do his court date," Wallet said.

The agent then complained, referring to the former Democratic president: "When (Joe) Biden was in office, he abused the whole parole release system in my opinion."

After the agent spoke to the motorist in Spanish, the man was led away in handcuffs, the video shows.

"I just want to get out of here before half the city shows up," an officer is heard saying after the man is led away.

The incident prompted nationwide media coverage, while politicians and candidates weighed in.

Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, also told reporters that firing officers for working with federal immigration agents could prompt a review of whether the Detroit Police Department's policies conflict with House rules that prohibit earmarks for sanctuary cities.

Michigan gubernatorial candidate Mike Cox started a gofundme.com page to raise money for the two officers. As of Wednesday, $27,987 had been raised.

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