SARAH WATSON – Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus, Ill.
Davenport’s new fire chief, Jeff VanderWiere, was briefly suspended in 2009 as a sergeant in Kalamazoo, Michigan, for punching a handcuffed teen in the face multiple times after the teen spit on him.
That incident was not disclosed to Davenport by the consulting firm that led the search that resulted in VanderWiere’s hiring, according to current and former city officials…