DETROIT – A Detroit police officer has been charged after allegedly using a woman’s phone to send explicit photos to himself during a traffic stop.
Officer Derond Martez Crawford, 34, conducted a traffic stop on a 22-year-old woman’s car on March 3, just before 11 p.m., for improper plates. The woman was then arrested for an outstanding warrant.
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During the woman’s arrest, police said Crawford gained access to her phone so her mother could be contacted. He then allegedly found and sent explicit photos of the 22-year-old to himself without her consent.
When the woman got her phone back, she noticed that the photos were in emails she had not sent.
Crawford is also accused of going to the woman’s home on March 4 at around 7:40 a.m. while he was off duty. She did not come to the door.
Crawford was charged with using a computer to commit a crime, misconduct in office and interfering with a telecommunications device.
He was arraigned on March 8 and received a $100,000 personal bond with a GPS tether and house arrest. He was also ordered not to have direct or indirect contact with the woman, no use of a computer or telecommunications devices except for court, no social media, and he cannot carry firearms, weapons or pepper spray.
He’s expected to appear in court on March 16 at 8:30 a.m. for a probable cause conference.
”It is hard to imagine what the defendant was thinking when he engaged in this alleged conduct,“ said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy in a statement. ”He did not have an articulable reason to even look into the phone for anything other than her mother’s phone number in the first place and the steps he took after that intrusion were completely inappropriate.”