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Photo Of Detroit Cop Sleeping in Squad Car Surfaces on Web

DETROIT – By anyone’s account, it isn’t a pretty picture: a uniformed Detroit police officer appears to be asleep, his mouth agape, sitting in what is apparently the driver’s seat of a squad car.

The image was posted over the weekend on www.mediatakeout.com, and, according to the site’s traffic counter, it’s been viewed more than 400,000 times.

Among the viewers? The officer’s bosses.

“We were made aware of the photo over the weekend and began investigating immediately,” Detroit Police Spokesman John Roach said today. “As of this morning, we’ve identified the officer, we know who he is. We have not yet had an opportunity to interview him directly, but we will as soon as possible.”

Roach declined to release the officer’s name but said he works as a patrolman in the city’s 8th Precinct. Roach said police are investigating whether the officer was on duty and not on a break when the photo was shot.

Information about the photo’s origins — including where it was shot, by whom and when — isn’t included in the posting. An e-mail sent Monday to the blogging site where it is posted, Media Take Out, seeking information about the photo’s origins has not yet been answered.

Danyelle Coleman, 27, of Detroit told the Free Press she saw the picture over the weekend and posted it to her personal Facebook page. It has sparked heated debate among both friends and strangers, she said.

Some people have said they know the officer and that he’s a good cop, she said.

Coleman said that even if the picture was shot while the officer was off duty or on a break, the image is a negative for the city.

“This is nothing to laugh about,” she said. “We can’t get police to come on time when we call. Is it because they’re taking a nap?”