Minneapolis police chief resigns following investigation

(NBC, KYMA) - Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) announced Police Chief Brian O'Hara has resigned after it was uncovered that he interfered with an investigation.

The investigation was looking into allegations against O'Hara for having inappropriate relationships with city employees.

"Last year we received an anonymous complaint alleging the chief had engaged in sexually intimate relationships with city employees. When complaints or allegations come forward involving any employee, especially someone in a position of leadership, they are reviewed thoroughly and independently. That was the case. Here, an outside investigation was conducted, extensive interviews were completed, and numerous staff participated."

Mayor Jacob Frey (D)

The accusations were, and remain, "not substantiated." However, an addition investigation uncovered that O'Hara interfered with that probe by deleting a contact card from his cellphone, and telling another person about the details of the investigation.

"The investigators have concluded that this interference does not change their ultimate conclusion contained in the original report," Mayor Frey shared.

Frey said it resulted in a breach of trust, and that he informed O'Hara that disciplinary action would be taken, leading to his resignation.

"I accepted the resignation. It was extremely painful decision obviously. But I concluded that was necessary to maintain public trust. And this was the right way to move forward as a city. So he ultimately was disciplined, received a letter. It did make sense to offer further discipline when he was resigning himself. We did things by the book. We made sure that they were immediately investigated the moment we learned about them. We are disciplining on the substantiated investigations. We are not discipline on those that were not substantiated."

Mayor Jacob Frey (D)