STUART, Fla. (CBS12) — Two Stuart police officers were disciplined after an internal affairs investigation found they failed to properly investigate and document a domestic violence call in which a man repeatedly told officers that his girlfriend had punched, hit and slapped him.
Officer Devon Taylor, the primary officer on the Feb. 8 call, was suspended without pay for 36 hours and placed on a six-month performance improvement plan. Officer Ashley Montoya, who responded as a backup officer, was ordered to receive a formal reprimand. Both officers were also directed to undergo additional training in domestic violence investigations, victims’ rights, lethality assessments and related state laws and department policies.
The disciplinary action followed an Internal Affairs investigation into the officers’ response to a Feb. 8 domestic disturbance. According to the investigative summary, dispatch information indicated that a man had reported that his girlfriend was hitting him and that he had locked himself in a bathroom. Once officers arrived, the man said his girlfriend had been “punching me, slapping me, hitting me,” and that he retreated to the bathroom to call 911…