Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officer Robert Jones was arrested yesterday for breaking into a woman's house and attacking her. Jones is charged with first degree burglary, wanton endangerment, fourth degree assault, and domestic violence.
According to court documents, Jones pushed his way into a woman's home, berated her for not returning his calls, covered her mouth when she yelled for Siri to call 911, beat her, and held her against her will. At some point she fell down the stairs during the struggle. A judge set Jones' bail at $30,000 with conditions that he not possess any weapons and that he have no contact with the victim.
The Public Integrity Unit of the LMPD claims that Jones has since been administratively re-assigned pending the outcome of the case, which we interpret as him being re-assigned to desk duty as opposed to being placed on paid leave or suspended. We find this news disturbing since most police departments do not allow a man facing such charges to keep on working. They typically place the officer on paid leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation, but a growing number of departments have started suspending officers without pay when those investigations involve arrests. Louisville appears behind the curve in this area.