July 19, 2025
The third day of the 39th District Court hearing alleging two Sterling Heights officers acted with excessive force against a purportedly combative, legally drunk accuser, culminated in testimony from Darren Steele, a retired Sterling Heights officer and K9 expert who’d been the K9 cop on the force for 25 years. Like his predecessor, Lt. Jason Bisdorf of Internal Affairs, who testified two days prior, Steele voiced support for suspended officers James Sribniak and Jack Currie and said of suspect Gary Young, “He wasn’t following commands… They’re going to use the force necessary to get him under control.”
Despite the fact that Steele trained Sribniak to become his successor as K9 Cop and maintained a working relationship with both officers, he agreed with attorney Arthur Weiss, representing Sribniak, that he wouldn’t provide “false testimony” even if it helped their case.
