DETROIT (WWJ) – A Detroit police officer who was demoted for investigating claims that former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick had a relationship with a ring of hit men has won a legal victory.

The Michigan Court of Appeals issued a ruling Wednesday morning reversing a lower court ruling which dismissed the Whistleblower Protection Act suit brought by homicide detective Ira Todd against Kilpatrick and the City of Detroit.

The appeals court said “there is a genuine issue” that Todd’s reporting about criminal activity involving the hit men ring and Kilpatrick “motivated his transfer” out of the Violent Crime Task Force.

Todd had testified that one of his superiors told him he could have his old position if he “kept a low profile, kept his mouth shut, and did not have anything further to do with Kentucky or James Davis.”

- View the court’s opinion (.pdf format) -

Todd claims Davis would open his Kentucky home to two known hit men after killings in Detroit. A Wayne County Judge had dismissed the lawsuit saying Todd’s actions weren’t protected by the Whistleblower Protection Act.