A Little Rock police lieutenant who was recently convicted on a DWI charge and has been on administrative leave since December has returned to duty, although the internal investigation into his actions is ongoing and he has been moved to a different position in the department, police officials said.
Thursday, during a quarterly meeting of department's Northwest Patrol Division, Maj. Casey Clark, the division commander, mentioned that Lt. Michael Ford was over one of the division's subsectors.
A week before, Ford was found guilty of driving while intoxicated and refusing to submit to a chemical test. State police arrested him in the early morning hours of Dec. 3 after he wrecked his car into the cable barrier on Interstate 430 near the South Rodney Parham Road interchange.
Ford was sentenced to one day of jail time for the DWI and had his driver's license suspended for six months for refusing to have his blood alcohol level tested, court records show.
Assistant Chief Heath Helton confirmed that Ford had returned to duty, but said the internal investigation into his actions had not wrapped up yet. Helton said he hoped the investigation would be finished shortly.
Ford has not been back on duty for long, police spokesman Mark Edwards said Friday. Edwards also confirmed that Ford had been moved to the Northwest patrol division and is no longer in his former position at the head of the department's Freedom of Information Unit.
"I assume they put him where they needed him right now," Edwards said.
It's not unusual for officers to return to duty while an internal investigation is ongoing as long as it's not an investigation where someone was injured by an officer's use of force, Edwards said.
"This is nothing new," Edwards said.
For example, Chief Keith Humphrey returned to duty Jan. 13 after he fired his service pistol at, but did not hit, a woman who is charged with first-degree battery after she reportedly shot and injured another woman in a fight Dec. 31.
State police investigated the incident to determine if Humphrey's actions were legal and turned over a file to prosecutors, but the criminal side has yet to conclude. Neither has the department's internal investigation to determine if Humphrey's actions violated department policy.
Edwards had "no idea" about the details of Ford's reassignment or his suspended driver's license and how that might effect his work at the department, he said.