4 officers serve suspensions for violations

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE/AP) -- Fort Wayne's police chief says four of his officers were suspended last month for policy lapses that included one officer who lacked a valid driver's license.

Chief Rusty York told the city's Board of Public Safety on Monday that each of the disciplined officers received between one and three days of unpaid suspension time.

Officer Susan Ulrich, a 27-year department veteran, received a one-day suspension without pay for having an expired driver's license and not wearing a seat belt. Those violations were discovered after the officer was involved in an on-duty crash.

Sgt. Caesar DeJesus was suspended for three days after firing a warning shot into the air in attempt to break up a fight outside of a restaurant during his shift late at night. Chief York said that is a violation of the department's policies.

Another officer, Robert Abels, was suspended for three days after a supervisor felt he was asking inappropriate questions to an assault victim.

In addition, Detective Jay Thompson was suspended for one day after failing to fill out proper paperwork after being on sick leave. His two sick days were taken away from his vacation time.

Chief York said reprimanding four officers in a month is slightly higher than normal, but the Fort Wayne Police Department tries to be transparent when disciplining their officers.

Chief York said the officers' punishments also depended on their prior disciplinary records.