FULLERTON (CNS) - Fullerton police Chief David Hendricks, who took the job just a year ago, has been placed on paid leave, city officials revealed today.
Hendricks and another officer “have been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an ongoing investigation,” City Manager Ken Domer said in a memo to police dated Aug. 25.
The investigation is “unconnected to the performance of official duties,” Domer said, adding it “relates to allegations of off-duty conduct outside of the city.”
Capt. Bob Dunn, once the public information officer for the Anaheim police and fire departments, will serve as acting chief in the interim.
Hendricks was appointed chief last July after serving as deputy chief of police in Long Beach. Hendricks started his law enforcement career in Long Beach in 1994.
Hendricks took over for former Chief Dan Hughes, who left for an executive security job at Disneyland.
Hughes left under his own cloud when a former Orange County district attorney's investigator alleged that the ex-chief sent a police sergeant to give then-City Manager Joe Felz a ride home after he crashed his car into a tree on Nov. 9, 2016. The former city manager later took a plea deal on a “wet reckless” count and was sentenced to 40 hours of community service.
Hughes took the job in 2012 from then-Acting Chief Kevin Hamilton, who took over from former Chief Michael Sellers, who went on paid medical leave following the officer-involved beating death of transient Kelly Thomas.