Broken Arrow PD employee arrested on warrant for child abuse

By John Dobberstein, Editor

(Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported Harris had been arrested for domestic violence. The person we cited had the same exact first, middle and last name. We have removed that information.)

A Broken Arrow Police Department employee was taken into custody Wednesday on a warrant from another county for felony child abuse, police officials and court records confirm.

Richard Henry Harris, 52, reportedly worked at the Broken Arrow Municipal Jail but was arrested on a warrant out of Cleveland County. Harris was charged Aug. 20 with one count of child abuse, and after his arrest a Tulsa County judge set his bond at $75,000.

Harris was ordered not to have any contact with the alleged victim, court records show. The incident for which he was arrested occurred on Aug. 5.

BAPD Public Information Coordinator Ethan Hutchins said Harris was placed on administrative leave when the police department was made aware of the criminal investigation by Cleveland County, and BAPD took him into custody.

“There is an ongoing internal investigation being conducted into the incident,” Hutchins said Thursday.

The Sentinel reached out to the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office for further details but hasn’t yet received an answer.

This is the latest in a string of incidents involving alleged misconduct by Broken Arrow police officers either on- of off-duty, going back to last fall:

Three more Broken Arrow officers were fired Aug. 19 by the department after an internal investigation of misconduct. A fourth officer investigated as part of the incident opted to retire and was not disciplined.

William Roy Golden resigned from the department earlier this year after he was charged with animal abuse due to an incident that occurred in his driveway that involving a neighborhood dog. His case is still in Wagoner County District Court and was recently continued until November. Five witnesses have been subpoenaed to testify for the prosecution in the case.

BAPD Sgt. Michael Ferguson was terminated last month after an internal investigation over his handling of a parking dispute with a citizen in which police went inside the man’s home to arrest him. The entire incident was caught on body camera video.