Green Bay officer suspended day without pay for crash

A Green Bay police officer was suspended for a day without pay after a collision between two police cruisers late last summer.

Officer Zachary Koch was given the one-day suspension without pay following a police investigation into a Sept. 23 rear-end collision of two squad cars and sent Koch and other officer, John LaValley, to the hospital for treatment of injuries.

The crash occurred on the Mason Street Bridge around 3 p.m. when Koch and other officers were responding to a report of a moped crash involving a person with a head injury.

Koch struck LaValley's squad from behind as the two vehicles traveled west on the bridge through traffic. Loss of the vehicles and equipment was about $50,000, according to police.

An investigation into the crash found Koch — who was dispatched to a theft call before opting to respond to the moped accident — violated five policies related to safe operation of an emergency vehicle, communication procedures and obeying orders, according to police documents in the case.

As part of the investigation, Koch must must spend four hours of duty time in training "related to building your capacity with defensive driving and emergency driving in traffic," according to police documents obtained by Press-Gazette Media through a records request to the city.

Future misconduct may result in discipline, including the possibility of termination, police told Koch.

Green Bay Police Department Lt. Chad Ramos said the well being of citizens and officers is a foremost concern and the department is thankful there were no serious injuries in the crash.

"The conduct of our officers is of our utmost concern and we look at these situations very closely ... and we want to make sure our officers are working to the high degree of standards we expect of them," he said. "When we see areas of concern, or misconduct if you will, we're going to deal with it accordingly."

— nphelps@pressgazettemedia.com and follow him on Twitter @nathanphelpsPG or on Facebook at Nathan Phelps Press-Gazette