Court hearing pushed for former OPCD director accused of fraud
A hearing for former New Orleans 911 call center director Tyrell Morris has been rescheduled to September.
Morris faces charges of malfeasance in office, false personation of a peace officer, insurance fraud, and second-degree public records injuring.
The charges came after a WDSU investigation revealed that Morris may have tried to cover up a car crash he had in a city-owned vehicle last year.
He entered a not guilty plea in connection with the indictment back in June.
WDSU investigation into Tyrell Morris
The investigation was centered on why Morris never filed a police report, whether he followed appropriate policies, and whether he potentially altered documents given to WDSU for personal gain.
The city of New Orleans Office of Inspector General initiated this investigation to determine if the allegations were valid and if audio and video recordings related to the automobile accident may possibly have been available to further substantiate or refute the allegations.
The IG's report states, "A local news outlet, WDSU, aired several news stories concerning the incident and requested information about the accident from OPCD.
On May 7, Morris said he was involved in a car accident in his government-issued OPCD vehicle at the intersection of 1-610 and Elysian Fields.
WDSU was first on the story on May 11, and that's when WDSU Investigates conducted a phone interview with Morris.
According to Morris in that interview, a car clipped his right bumper while trying to travel through a light in the turn lane.
Morris claimed both he and the person who hit him pulled over.
He said because no one was hurt and because there wasn't anyone available to dispatch, Morris and the driver agreed to exchange information. That's when he said he called to cancel the call for service 20 minutes later.
"No one was injured, neither of us. I myself called it in, gave the location, gave license plate information. And then we kind of waited, but we started the process of exchanging insurance information just like as as the law requires," Morris said. "The dispatcher advised that she did not have any units available. We waited quite a bit, like another 15-20 minutes. I asked the driver. I said hey, there's no injury here. It's property damage. Technically we can exchange information, but it's on you. "
WDSU Investigates obtained video of the accident from a city crime camera. It shows video of Morris swerving into the other driver. Then turning on his blue lights and following the other driver.
Turning on the blue lights may have broken state law as well.
The state law RS 32-318 states: "All persons other than law enforcement officers on official duty are prohibited from equipping, operating, or using motor vehicles with blue colored electric lights thereon."
WDSU Investigates asked Morris if the other driver was impaired.
"No, he was talking. He was totally with it. He told me he was heading to work now when he first got there," Morris said. "We exchanged driver's license information. All the normal stuff in an accident. And he said he was. Going to finish going to work."
WDSU Investigates also asked if Morris had been drinking.
"Wow. OK, no," Morris said. "That day, I was preparing to go out of town, so if the question is 'was I impaired?' The answer is no."
OIG interviews give new details. One employee who was interviewed says she saw Morris at the bar with a drink for his birthday that same day.
Morris announced his resignation on WDSU as WDSU Investigates was working on the investigation into the former director.
Morris also told WDSU Investigates that he did not get a drug or alcohol test after the accident.
"We have a vehicle policy in place issued in 2019 where we did not have a policy at all," Morris said. "So you know the agency has the parameters in place to protect our assets and any event as there is an injury, or you know, there may be an elevation of an ally there. The policy speaks to it, but the only damage to the vehicle was the right side of the bumper."
WDSU Investigates obtained the policy referenced by Morris. It reads:
"If injuries are reported, the operator of the OPCD vehicle(s) must take a drug and alcohol test as soon as possible. The Director of Human Resources should be contacted for the name and location of the testing facility."
WDSU then obtained the same document with the same title and date submitted in a 2021 audit but found it had four fewer words than the one supplied by OPCD.
That document reads:
"The operator of the OPCD vehicle(s) must take a drug and alcohol test as soon as possible."
WDSU Investigates found metadata within the documents sent by OPCD. That metadata shows Morris was the last person to modify the OPCD policy regarding the OPCD vehicles.
The documents were modified 17 minutes after WDSU Investigates emailed Morris asking about the accident in May, which was four days after the crash.
Once that Metadata information was reported, the city council requested the mayor to suspend Morris as she appointed him to the position. The mayor refused. The OPCD board began its own investigation, but before the board could vote on it Morris resigned immediately.
We are now learning that on the same day, the IG requested to interview Morris for its own investigation.