Detroit police monitor linked to Kilpatrick quits (AP)

[Yahoo! News]

AP - A federal judge on Friday accepted the resignation of a court-appointed Detroit Police Department monitor, saying the monitor had inappropriate contact with ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick that included personal meetings and discussions about the department.

Sheryl Robinson Wood resigned Thursday, the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News reported.

In a Friday order accepting the resignation, U.S. District Judge Julian Cook said Wood had "meetings of a personal nature" with Kilpatrick, who resigned in September after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice and assault.

The judge said Wood also improperly discussed with Kilpatrick the city's consent agreements with the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division to reform police use of force and prisoner treatment. The agreements were reached in 2003, when Kilpatrick was mayor.

Cook, who is overseeing the consent decree, said Wood had "engaged in conduct which was totally inconsistent with the terms and conditions of the two consent judgments in this litigation."

That included "inappropriate discussions with (Kilpatrick) about this lawsuit," Cook said.

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