Manitowoc County Sheriff Dan Hartwig
Manitowoc County Sheriff Dan Hartwig yesterday addressed a sensitive topic during an appearance on WOMT Radio’s Be My Guest episode.
An off-duty police officer was stopped for drunk driving about 2-weeks ago. Hartwig began by commending both Two Rivers Police Chief Brian Kohlmeier and Assistant Chief Meinnert for “getting out in front of that story.”
“After the release went out, I saw, I’ll call it a dumpster fire in the comment section on Facebook where there were allegations it was being swept under the rug and there was preferential treatment on behalf of the sheriff’s office. I want to make sure people know and understand that is completely and utterly incorrect and false.”
One question that the sheriff says came up due to a person being arrested for drunk driving being released to a responsible party after a 12-hour hold in the county jail. Hartwig explained since March 2020 their release policy has changed due to covid protocols.
“One of the things that was mentioned in there is about preferential treatment being released. He’s no different than anybody else and we’ve been treating people that exact same way the last two years for that type of arrest. And, also want to point out too, yes it was an off-duty officer but they’re also entitled to due process like anybody else under those circumstances.”
The sheriff added that some of the comments on social media were very disparaging towards law enforcement, his staff, and his agency.
