Moto cop scolded, threatened woman and child over actions of guy they barely knew

Motorcycle Officer Domisi Thrash detained a woman for 45 minutes, seized her phone, and berated her in front of her small child because a man she met on a dating app ran away from a stop.

Motorcycle officer Domisi Thrash detained a woman for an unreasonable amount of time and unlawfully coerced her into giving up her phone after the man she was with fled a traffic stop on foot, according to a disciplinary report released earlier this month. He was suspended for one day.

On Oct. 15, 2024, Thrash stopped a hatchback with a man driving, a woman in the passenger seat, and a preschool-aged child in the back. The man said he didn’t have his insurance or identification, but gave the first name “Caeluv,” a date of birth, and a driver’s license number.

Nothing came up when Thrash ran the information through his computer, so he returned to the vehicle and ordered the driver out. After the driver wouldn’t comply, Thrash opened the door. He attempted to pull the driver out, the two struggled, and Thrash grabbed the keys out of the ignition.

The driver stepped toward Thrash, who called for backup, then turned and walked away. Thrash used his Taser, but it was ineffective, and the man ran off. Thrash told the woman and her daughter to stay where they were while he searched for the driver on his motorcycle.

He came back two minutes later and found the woman sitting inside the car. Thrash began interrogating her about the driver. When he asked her for his name, she said, “Caeluv.” Trash pressed her, “What’s his real name?”

She tried to explain that she had only met the driver two weeks ago, and that was the name he gave her. Thrash repeatedly interrupted her, telling her he wasn’t “playing games”

The woman searched for the driver’s information in her cell phone while an agitated Thrash continued scolding her in a raised voice, “In front of your kid, this is ridiculous. Someone could have got hurt. He could have got shot. Your kid could have got shot.”

She told Thrash that she didn’t have the driver’s number, but she had his Facebook account, and his name on the account was “Alonzo.” Thrash demanded that she turn over her phone. She refused, and he threatened to arrest her for obstruction, barking, “You have two seconds to give me your phone or you’re going to jail!” The woman gave up the phone and her identification, which Thrash kept for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, additional officers arrived on the scene. Another officer had what the Office of Police Accountability described as a “cordial conversation” with the woman. She explained that she had met the driver on the Facebook dating app, and they had been on a couple of dates. They had breakfast that morning, and he offered to take her daughter to school.

She voluntarily accessed Facebook from her daughter’s phone. Within a few minutes, the officer was able to find enough information to identify the man, including his real name, phone number, and date of birth.

Altogether, the woman had been detained for upwards of 45 minutes. The OPA found that Thrash’s seizure of the phone violated the Fourth Amendment. Although she gave him the phone, it was not surrendered voluntarily. Under the circumstances, Thrash could only have obtained the phone through consent or a warrant. Instead, he unlawfully compelled her to give him the phone with the threat of arrest.

At the time, he had no basis to arrest her for obstruction because there is “no general obligation to cooperate with a police investigation,” and he did not have probable cause to believe she was lying to him.

While the OPA determined that he had a justification to briefly detain her initially, he exceeded the stop’s “reasonable scope.” Thrash could only detain the woman “long enough to confirm or dispel any suspicion that Passenger was involved in criminality,” the OPA argued, noting that the other officer managed to achieve this in a little over five minutes.

Lastly, the OPA found that Thrash was unprofessional throughout the encounter, describing him as “overbearing” and “accusatory.”

Although the OPA recommended a suspension of up to three days, Chief Shon Barnes issued a one-day suspension. It’s not unusual for the chief to go light on an officer for a first-time offense, but this is far from Thrash’s only misconduct.

This is Thrash’s sixth sustained complaint. In one of those incidents, the 6’3” Thrash punched a small woman in the face with a closed fist, leaving her with a bloody nose. The OPA argued that the woman was surrounded by eight officers and did not pose an immediate threat.

Hired in 2010, Thrash made $278,500 in 2024.