A D.C. police commander is under investigation after he was accused of lobbying to release a woman from jail and have her charges reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor.
According to a police report, Melissa Ann Hamilton was arrested around 6 p.m. Monday at a home in Northwest Washington on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, then taken to the 5th District police station.
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Cmdr. Brian Jordan, head of the school security unit, showed up at the precinct out of uniform, according to a source within the police department who asked not to be identified because the investigation was ongoing. Jordan told the booking officers that he was a commander and pressed to have Hamilton, 28, removed from the jail and her felony charges reduced to simple assault, a misdemeanor, a source said.
Several police officials persuaded Jordan to leave the station, a police source said.
Hamilton was held overnight, appeared before a judge, charged with simple assault and released on her own recognizance, according to court records.
Suspects charged with a misdemeanor can be cited and released, but those facing a felony charge must spend the night in jail and go before a judge for arraignment, as Hamilton was.
D.C. police spokesman Traci Hughes on Thursday said police were investigating the incident and Jordan had been ordered to have no contact with the public until the matter was settled. She did not know what the relationship was between Jordan and the woman who was arrested.
Jordan said he could not comment. Hamilton could not be reached.
According to the arrest affidavit, police responded to 2213 First St. NW around 5:30 p.m. for a call of an assault in process. Hamilton’s boyfriend was cut above the eye, and police found blood on the floor that trailed to the living room and blood and a broken glass in the upstairs bedroom, the police report said. The boyfriend told the officers that Hamilton struck him with a glass. He refused to go to the hospital.
Jordan, who has 25 years on the force, had been the assistant chief of the Office of Professional Responsibility for years until he was demoted to commander as part of D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier’s reshuffling of the department in 2007.
