The Fullerton Police Department chief is one paid leave following an altercation and investigators are searching for evidence. Vikki Vargas reports for NBC4 News at 4 p.m. on Aug. 28, 2018.
Fullerton police Chief David Hendricks, who took the job just a year ago, has been placed on paid leave, along with another member of the department, pending the outcome of an investigation into their off-duty conduct at a concert, officials revealed Monday.
City Manager Ken Domer, in a memo to police dated Aug. 25, said the investigation is "unconnected to the performance of official duties,'' adding it "relates to allegations of off-duty conduct outside of the city.''
The off-duty conduct refers to an incident involving Hendricks, a police captain and two emergency medical technicians at a Lady Antebellum concert last Friday at the FivePoint Amphitheatre in Irvine.
Irvine police were called to the venue at 9:42 p.m. last Friday. Kim Mohr of the Irvine Police Department said two members of the Fullerton Police Department and two EMTs got into some sort of a conflict and the police officers were asked to leave the concert.
Hendricks was appointed chief last July after serving as deputy chief of police in Long Beach. Hendricks started his law enforcement career in Long Beach in 1994.
Hendricks took over for former Chief Dan Hughes, who left for an executive security job at Disneyland.
Hughes left under his own cloud when a former Orange County district attorney's investigator alleged that the ex-chief sent a police sergeant to give then-City Manager Joe Felz a ride home after he crashed his car into a tree on Nov. 9, 2016. The former city manager later took a plea deal on a "wet reckless'' count and was sentenced to 40 hours of community service.
Hughes took the job in 2012 from then-Acting Chief Kevin Hamilton, who took over from former Chief Michael Sellers, who went on paid medical leave following the officer-involved beating death of transient Kelly Thomas.
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Capt. Bob Dunn, once the public information officer for the Anaheim police and fire departments, will serve as acting chief in the interim.
