‘A really, really dumb decision’: Chesterfield Police speak on officer charged with filing false police report after off-duty crash

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — The Chesterfield County Police Department spoke on the firing and charges filed against a former probationary officer who filed a false police report during an off-duty incident.

According to the department, the probationary officer hit a parked car near Mallard Cove on Sunday, Sept. 22. The next day, the officer left a note for the driver and filed a false police report on their behalf — calling it a hit-and-run.

Police said the false report was discovered by a Chesterfield detective who was doing a follow-up investigation on the report. The detective reportedly notified his chain of command and further investigations were launched by the department’s Criminal Investigations Bureau and Internal Affairs Division.

The probationary officer was suspended on Tuesday, Sept. 24, and later fired on Tuesday, Oct. 1, according to police.

Acting Chief of Police Brad Badgerow said he was disappointed, and that the entire situation could’ve been avoided.

“A really, really dumb decision led to a series of other poor decisions,” Badgerow said. “The easiest thing to do would have been to call the non-emergency police number and say, ‘Hey, this is what just happened. I’d like to have somebody investigate it,’ take herself out of that and just do it the normal process,” Badgerow said.

Badgerow said he’s proud of his team for bringing this to light and hopes there’s a valuable lesson for all potential officers who want to be a part of the force.

“We hire about 3% of the people that apply to us,” Badgerow said. “People earn their right to be in the Chesterfield County Police Academy and the academy is no joke. We want to be able to tell people that when you see a CCPD officer rolling around, you know that we’re going to do the right thing for the right reason.”

The former officer is being charged with a Class 1 misdemeanor and is facing a $2,500 fine or one year in jail, according to police.

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