Officer sues over abuse case
An Oklahoma City police officer acquitted of assaulting his wife, who is a fellow officer, claims Police Chief Bill Citty and others in the department conspired to have him charged on false domestic abuse allegations.
Suspended Master Sgt. Donald Glynn Brewer makes the accusations in a federal lawsuit. The police chief disputes it.
“To this day, I don’t understand why she wasn’t charged when all the evidence clearly pointed towards her as being the one who committed the assault,” defense attorney Michael Johnson said Thursday. “I guess she
had better friends at the police department than he did.”
Brewer, 46, was found not guilty Wednesday of a misdemeanor domestic abuse offense. An Oklahoma County jury reached the verdict in only 30 minutes following a three-day trial. Brewer and his wife are divorcing.
“A jury has now told the police department that these allegations were meritless,” the defense attorney said after the verdict. “We knew the facts showed that he did not commit this crime, that she was the aggressor and that she attacked him.”
Kristi Brewer, now 29, originally was arrested on domestic violence complaints after a physical altercation at the couple’s Oklahoma City apartment June 6, 2017.
Donald Brewer told police she punched, scratched and threw a straightening iron at his head after an argument. At trial, he testified that the altercation began after his wife saw a “kissy face” emoji on his cellphone.
But after further investigation, police chose not to pursue criminal charges on her and arrested Donald Brewer.
“The information that was given initially led the investigators and officers on the call to believe that she was the instigator,” Citty told The Oklahoman Thursday. “That’s why she went to jail. But when we got into the case, the investigators felt that she was the victim.”
About a week before the trial, Brewer filed a civil rights lawsuit against Oklahoma City and others related to the incident.
Donald Brewer alleges his wife’s friends in the department, including female detectives, became advocates for her, “rather than impartial investigators,” according to the lawsuit filed in Oklahoma City federal court.
He also alleges the defendants agreed to cause his “malicious prosecution” in an effort to force his resignation from the department. “There’s a lot of allegations and I’m not going to get into it. We’ll defend that lawsuit in the proper form,” Citty said. “Obviously, the department feels like they did everything according to what the public would expect us to do in enforcing the law and whether it’s regarding a police officer or anybody else.”
Prosecutors offered Donald Brewer a plea deal — resign and the case would be dismissed, according to the lawsuit. He rejected the offer.
“This was a case where my client was never going to accept a deal. He knew he had done nothing wrong,” his defense attorney said. “It was a complete conflict of interest to have her friends investigating this and making decisions. At a minimum, it should have been sent to an outside agency or done by internal affairs.”
Donald Brewer was placed on leave following the incident. Now that he’s been acquitted, he will receive back pay for time spent suspended without pay. He’ll remain on paid leave pending the outcome of an administrative investigation, Citty said.
At trial
During the trial, Donald Brewer testified his wife, after seeing the emoji, attempted to take his cellphone by punching and scratching him. During the tussle, they both fell and he landed on top of her, he testified. At that point, he gave up the phone. She then struck him in the back of the head with a straightening iron, he told the jury.
After the incident, Kristi Brewer told police she didn’t feel in danger nor feel like her husband was trying to harm her, according to the lawsuit. She later, though, told police her husband was the aggressor, claiming he tackled her and slammed her around during the altercation.
Donald Brewer was charged with domestic abuse by strangulation, a felony, and domestic assault and battery, a misdemeanor. A judge later threw out the felony count, finding she never was choked or strangled, according to the lawsuit.
The couple married in Las Vegas in October 2016 after years of dating off and on. Kristi Brewer filed for divorce three days after the altercation.