Fullerton Police Department Chief David Hendricks, who took the job just a year ago, has been placed on paid leave, along with a police captain, pending the outcome of an investigation into their off-duty conduct at a concert, officials revealed Monday.
City Manager Ken Domer, in a memo to police dated Saturday, said the investigation is “unconnected to the performance of official duties,” adding it “relates to allegations of off-duty conduct outside of the city.”
The Los Angeles Times identified the captain as Thomas Oliveras.
Capt. Bob Dunn, once the public information officer for the Anaheim police and fire departments, will serve as acting chief in the interim.
The off-duty conduct refers to an incident involving Hendricks, a police captain and two emergency medical technicians at a Lady Antebellum concert Friday at the FivePoint Amphitheatre in Irvine.
Irvine police were called to the venue at 9:42 p.m. Friday. Kim Mohr of the Irvine Police Department said two members of the Fullerton Police Department and two on-duty EMTs got into a conflict and the police officers were asked to leave the concert. No injuries were reported. An Irvine police detective is investigating the incident to determine if a crime occurred, Mohr told The Times.
Hendricks was appointed chief in July 2017 after serving as a deputy chief with the Long Beach Police Department. Hendricks started his law enforcement career in Long Beach in 1994.
Hendricks succeeded 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.