APD Officer Placed on Administrative Leave while Assault Investigation Concludes

Alaska Native News on Oct 14, 2019.

The Anchorage Police Department announced that an officer with the department has been placed on paid administrative leave following a reported Assault on September 30th.

On October 11th after a supervisor initiated an automatic review of the incident, the officer, identified as 32-year-old Officer Cornelius Aaron Pettus, was charged with two counts of Assault IV.

The charges stem from a bicycle violation incident that occurred on the last day of last month where Cornelius had contacted a bicyclist, who was reported to be uncooperative and left the scene. Cornelius later made contact with the man at the man’s home. It was then that Cornelius “used force to gain compliance and arrested the male.”

“As I have stated before, APD has absolutely no tolerance for misconduct by its officers. We will unequivocally maintain the high standards that our community expects of us and that we expect from ourselves,” said Chief Justin Doll, Anchorage Police Department. “I understand the community may have concerns, however, everyone can be confident that our internal process thoroughly identifies any problematic conduct, and APD moves swiftly to handle it appropriately.”

Officer Cornelius, an officer with the department since 2015, will remain on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.