DETROIT – A Detroit police officer who accidentally killed a seven-year-old girl during a search for a murder suspect has been restored to active duty nearly five years after the incident.

Joseph Weekley returned to the Detroit police, but will not be working in the field, according to Police Chief James Craig.

Weekley is in the department's Criminal Investigations Bureau and will be working a desk job until further notice, the chief says.

Weekley was cleared of an involuntary manslaughter charge by a judge last year, after he says he accidentally pulled the trigger of his gun and kiklled Aiyana Stanley-Jones. The shot was fired during a struggle with the girl's grandmother after he burst through the door of the home, he says.

The grandmother denies his claim.