Police officer charged with assaulting girlfriend

A Philadelphia police officer was arrested Monday on charges of assaulting his girlfriend, police said.

John Mouzon, 37, a 16-year veteran, became involved in a fight with his girlfriend on Monday at a home in Germantown, according to the department's public affairs office.

According to multiple police sources, the girlfriend is a fellow Philadelphia officer. She was hospitalized after the fight. Her identity was not released.

Mouzon, who was off-duty at the time, was charged with simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.

Mouzon is assigned to the Narcotics Field Unit, but Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey has transferred him to desk duty pending the outcome of an Internal Affairs investigation.

This is not the first time Mouzon has been the subject of an Internal Affairs investigation. This year, the Philadelphia Daily News reported that in 2005 Mouzon admitted to stealing 31/2 hours of overtime by lying about time that he spent in court. Mouzon was suspended without pay for 10 days, then transferred to a patrol assignment for about 21/2 years.

Mouzon appealed the discipline, and in December 2007 was awarded more than $80,000 by an arbitrator who found that Mouzon's punishment had been unduly harsh. The lump-sum payment represented an estimation of the overtime payments that Mouzon would have earned had he not been transferred out of narcotics.

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