CINCINNATI — An argument over a haircut between a police officer and his son Saturday ended with a domestic violence charge, according to an affidavit filed in Hamilton County Municipal Court.
Cincinnati Police Officer David Dozier was arrested after he “slapped his son in the face which knocked his tooth loose and left a red handprint,” according to sworn testimony from Sgt. Michael Whitis, the officer who arrested Dozier Saturday.
Dozier also punched his son in the stomach, Whitis told the court.
The argument that led to Dozier’s arrest involved a fight with his son “about how short to cut the hair,” the affidavit states.
Hope Dudley, the child's grandmother, said she'd never seen Dozier as angry as he was Saturday.
"When he hit him, and I confronted him with it and I told him it was abuse, and he said 'I was beat when I was a child, and it's not abuse,'" she recalled. "So in the black community where I grew up at, you know, we got slapped around, and it wasn't right but we didn't know no better. It's a different time."
The court issued a temporary protective order against Dozier after his arrest.
Dozier has been a member of the Cincinnati Police Department since 2004, according to department spokeswoman Tiffaney Hardy. An investigation into the allegations is underway, Hardy said.
"His police powers and essentially his administrative duties have been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation," she told WCPO.
Dozier is scheduled to appear in the courtroom of Judge Lisa Allen on Oct. 19 for a non-jury trial.
Dudley said she respects Dozier and hopes he can change.
"I want him to be able to get help ... and I want him to be able to be in the community so he can stress what he went through, not only to his fellow officers but to young people so they can be aware and know that it's not acceptable."
