BOSTON (AP) – A former Boston police officer who was beaten more than 25 years ago by colleagues who mistaken him for a shooting suspect will be the new leader of the city’s police department, the mayor announced Wednesday Michelle Wu.
Michael Cox, 57, will return to his hometown of Boston after working as a police chief in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to lead the same force against which he filed a civil rights case for his beating by of the police. Cox, who is Black, will take over as curator next month.
Cox described his appointment as an “emotional moment” for him, and apologized during a call with reporters for his trembling voice. He promised to work to diversify the police department – which critics have long complained does not look like the city it serves – and to make sure officers feel supported in their work to protect the police. community.
“I think this is a very exciting time. I think the officers need someone to support them,” Cox told reporters Wednesday. “And I go to his biggest cheerleader.”
Before becoming Ann Arbor chief in 2019, Cox was part of Boston police for 30 years, where he rose through the ranks after fighting for years to do justice to his beating that left him seriously injured. at 29 years old.
Cox was working undercover as part of the gang unit in January 1995 when officers received a call about a shooting. Cox, dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, saw the suspect and began chasing him. The suspect started climbing a fence and Cox was hit from behind just as he was about to grab the man, Cox said. He received kicks and punches from his teammates, and suffered head injuries and kidney damage.
“It was humiliating what happened to me,” Cox told former Boston Globe journalist Dick Lehr for Lehr’s book on the beating: “The Fence: A Police Cover-Up Along Boston’s Racial Divide.”
“There’s no reason to treat anyone like that. And then just leave them. And if they did it to me, to another police officer, they would do it to someone else if they floated with theirs? say Cox.
Cox has described being harassed in an effort to silence him after the beating was made public despite efforts by his colleagues to cover it up. An injury report from the department said Cox lost his foot on a frozen puddle, causing him to fall and break his head.
Cox chose to stay with police after what happened to him and try to make things better instead of leaving a job he loved, he said Wednesday.
“Since then, in 1995, I have dedicated my life to making sure that both the Boston Police Department and the police in general have grown and learned … to make sure we have established structures and mechanisms. to make sure we never repeat it. a kind of incident against anyone, “Cox told reporters.
The Boston attorney general and surrounding communities, who have known Cox for years, called him “a man of great honor and integrity.”
“Michael Cox’s journey from being beaten by other Boston police officers to his appointment as commissioner of the Boston Police Department is emblematic of criminal law reform,” Suffolk County District Attorney said , Kevin Hayden, in an emailed statement.
Cox’s tenure at Ann Arbor was affected by claims that he created a hostile work environment, which led him to be briefly placed on administrative leave in 2020.
One investigation found “no evidence that the boss behaved in such a way” that it created a hostile work environment. But a report said “there is evidence that people feared retaliation from the boss, and they had a legitimate basis for that fear, whether or not the boss intended.”
He was reinstated less than a month after being put on leave after the city administration told him to apologize “for any misunderstanding and miscommunication.”
The mayoress said the verification process was intense and that she spoke personally with the mayor and city administrator of Ann Arbor about the time Cox spent there. Those talks confirmed he is a “leader of great integrity,” Wu said.
“We are very excited to bring a leader of his experience, wisdom and background to Boston in this role,” he told reporters.
In Boston, Cox spent 15 years in various positions on police force command staff, including as head of the office and superintendent of the professional development office. He oversaw the Boston Police Academy, the Firearms Training Unit, the Police Cadet Unit, and the training of recruits and sworn officers.
Boston’s last commissioner, Dennis White, was fired last year after a tough battle to keep his job after allegations of domestic violence decades ago came to light.
White was put on leave for the charges, which he denied, just days after his new job. Chief Superintendent Gregory Long has served as acting police commissioner during the search for White’s permanent successor.