PHOENIX (AP) — Phoenix police launched an internal affairs investigation into an incident early Friday in which City Councilman Michael Johnson was temporarily detained and handcuffed by an officer.
Police spokesman Trent Crump says the incident occurred as Johnson was checking on neighbors whose south Phoenix home had caught fire.
In a statement, Johnson says he got permission from a fire department battalion chief to speak with his neighbor but was stopped by an officer who was later identified as 27-year-old Brian Authement.
Johnson, a retired policeman, says he asked to speak with the officer's supervisor. But the officer said there wasn't one there and that, "We don't do it like that out here." Johnson says the officer threw him to the ground and handcuffed him. Crump says Johnson was released once a supervisor arrived.
Phoenix police say Authement is assigned to the midnight shift at the South Mountain Precinct and has been employed by the department since March 2008.
