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(WJBK) - Wayne County Commissioner Reggie Reg Davis says he respects women, but the public record indicates that hasn't always been the case.
Davis, a Democrat who represents Northwest Detroit, has been accused of harassing two women and has been taken to court three times by women seeking health care or financial support for children Davis fathered with them.
A personal protection order was issued in 2000 after a Davis live-in girlfriend accused him to hitting her on multiple occasions, leaving bruises. Davis denies ever hitting a woman, and told me that the woman harmed herself and tried to set him up.
Another personal protection order was issued in 2007, after the mother of Davis' unborn child said he threatened her and said he would rip the baby out of her stomach. Davis says her account may be accurate and that he used language with her that he might not have used if he had taken the time to cool off and pray.
Davis attributes some of his struggles to a 1987 car accident in which he was catapulted from a vehicle he was riding in. He hit his head and was unconscious for weeks. He says that accident, the shooting death of his brother in 2001 and another accident have caused him anxiety and to experience petit mal seizures.
Davis says these experiences do not affect his ability to serve his constituents, and are why he has made raising awareness of the need to seek help for mental health problems a top issue since he joined the commission in January. Davis was selected unanimously by the board of commissioners to replace Burton Leland, who died after a lengthy battle with cancer.
The commission did not perform a background check before selected Davis. If they had, they would have found that he was taken to court three times by three women seeking health care or child support payments for their children with Davis.
Two of those women now speak highly of Davis. A third, who could not be reached for comment, at one time said Davis owed her more than $120,000 in child support. Davis says he no longer owes that much.
He says one reason he has had trouble meeting his financial obligations is that he gave up a lucrative career as one of Detroit's top FM radio deejays to get into politics. In 2009, Davis was elected to serve on the Detroit Charter Commission, which rewrote the city's constitution in the wake of the Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick text message scandal that led to Kilpatrick's prosecution on obstruction of justice and perjury charges and resignation from office.
Davis says he didn't put politics about his financial obligations to his children. He says God told him to run for the charter commission, so he did.
From 2014 until his appointment to fill out the remainder of Leland's term on the county commission, Davis worked for Mayor Mike Duggan as a neighborhood services official.
Contact M.L. Elrick at ml.elrick@foxtv.com or 248-552-5261.