Detroit officer says Ferguson threatened him

DETRIOT (WXYZ) - A Detroit police officer took the stand in the Kilpatrick Corruption Case Tuesday to tell the court that Bobby Ferguson had threatened his family after the cop had issued some blight violations to Ferguson.

“I just wanted it cleaned up, that’s it,” said Detroit Police Officer Michael Fountain. Despite several questions from the defense, Fountain says he didn’t have a grudge against Bobby Ferguson when he issued the former city contractor at least 10 misdemeanor tickets back in 2001. The tickets were for things like allowing litter and hazardous conditions on two addresses on Military in Detroit.

Federal prosecutors called Officer Fountain to the stand Tuesday in the Kilpatrick Corruption Case. Fountain told the jury that Ferguson threatened him and made it clear he should dismiss those tickets. So he did, and the case was dropped.

“That it would be in the best interest for me to dismiss those tickets back then. It was pretty much a threat on the family – my kids,” said Officer Fountain.

Former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, his father Bernard Kilpatrick, Ferguson, and ex-Water department director Victor Mercado are all charged with racketeering and conspiracy.

Fountain testified that when he arrived at 36th District Court for a trial on the blight violations, he was summoned to the hallway. There, he says, he was met by Ferguson, who was flanked by two Kilpatrick Executive Protection Unit cops. Kilpatrick had only been in the mayor’s office for one month at that point.

“They wanted to show that this police officer was intimidated by Bobby Ferguson, and this is a way of showing Ferguson’s informal power, because of his access to the mayor,” Channel 7 Legal Analyst Thomas O’Brien told 7 Action News Investigator Heather Catallo.

One of those EPU officers was Kilpatrick’s good friend Officer Mike Martin. Ferguson defense attorney Gerald Evelyn aggressively cross-examined Fountain about why he indicated to the grand jury that it was Martin who threatened him – not Ferguson.

“My story’s always been the same… my story’s been all along – stayed the same from the time it happened back in 2001, that I felt threatened about the whole situation with the tickets,” Fountain told reporters outside federal court.

Evelyn also asked why Fountain didn’t tell any other police or prosecutors that he was threatened and why he didn’t question Martin – who he once trained -- about the incident

“Mr. Ferguson’s not guilty of all charges, and I think that’s true for all the defendants, so everything that’s inconsistent with that we dispute,” said Evelyn.