The Hamtramck City Council voted to fire Police Chief Jamiel Altaheri and City Manager Max Garbarino following a 59-page investigative report detailing allegations of misconduct. The council also recommended firing Officer David Adamczyk.
The independent investigation, conducted by the law firm Miller Johnson, laid out multiple allegations:
Chief Jamiel Altaheri allegedly directed a technician to wipe his city-issued phone after being placed on leave, drove a city vehicle after drinking — including an instance where he reportedly used police lights to run red lights after leaving a strip club — and gave a loaded firearm to a civilian volunteer, telling her to point it at someone’s head. The report also claims he pressured officers to help him in a custody dispute, directed them to write vague reports, and joined an improper stolen vehicle recovery with Adamczyk and civilians.
Officer David Adamczyk is accused of attempting to rig a sergeant’s exam, leaking allegations against Altaheri for leverage, secretly recording fellow officers and lying about it, abusing overtime, failing to properly document outside assignments, and participating in the improper vehicle recovery.
City Manager Max Garbarino allegedly pressured prior police leadership to rehire Adamczyk, showed poor judgment by attending a council meeting armed after being placed on leave, and failed to act quickly on serious allegations he had known about months earlier.
Through his attorney, Civil Rights Lawyer Amir Makled, Altaheri disputed the findings.
“While I strongly dispute many of the conclusions drawn within it, I recognize that this has been a difficult time for our city and our police department… It is unfortunate that these positive contributions are absent from the report.”
Altaheri added that he will work with city leaders to address concerns, stressing that “accountability and fairness must go hand in hand,” and urged the public to “withhold judgment until all facts are fairly considered, and due process is completed.”
