TAYLOR, Mich. – A Melvindale police officer is accused of hitting a tow-truck driver and then leaving the scene.
John Kosmides is a little stiff after a frightening ordeal on the job.
"I can't go out on the road. I can't drive," Kosmides said.
While on a service call on Allen Road near Northline Road in Taylor, Kosmides tried to get two lanes of traffic to stop.
"As I turned around, this vehicle starts moving and strikes my leg, which caused me to spin. My back hit his mirror," Kosmides said.
But the man driving the SUV was forced to stop at a red light.
"I take a picture of his plate. While I'm doing that, the other vehicle, who also stopped next to him, is yelling at him, saying, 'Hey, you just hit that kid. You need to stop,'" Kosmides said.
By the time Kosmides got to the window, Kosmides said, "He proceeded to say, 'F you,' and drove off."
"Our concern is that we have someone leaving the scene," Taylor police Chief Mary Sclabassi said.
Local 4 News has learned that driver is a sergeant with the Melvindale Police Department.
"As an officer of the law, he should know better," Kosmides said.
He was not on duty at the time and denies what Kosmides and witnesses told Taylor police.
"His account was that he did not initially know that he struck someone," Sclabassi said.
Despite the open investigation, that sergeant remains on the job in Melvindale, and the chief in Melvindale has not opened an internal investigation, even though he's aware of the hit-and-run probe involving his officer.
"Would you launch an investigation? What would be your protocol?" Local 4's Jermont Terry asked Sclabassi.
"We would absolutely launch an internal investigation and we would work very closely with the other agency that is involved," Sclabassi said.