A long-time officer for the La Crosse Police Department resigned while under investigation for his report that differed from body camera footage of his interaction with a drunken motorist at Oktoberfest.

By Annie Pulley, THE BADGER PROJECT

A K9 officer who resigned from a western Wisconsin police department after the county’s district attorney voiced concerns about his credibility is working at another law enforcement agency in the area.

The officer, Daniel Ulrich, was a 15-year veteran of the La Crosse Police Department when he resigned in March 2024 amid an internal investigation. He is now an officer in West Salem, a village in La Crosse County about 14 miles east of the city.

A police report Ulrich wrote about his interaction with a drunken motorcyclist in September 2023 triggered the investigation. Ulrich’s report does not align with the body camera footage recorded by another officer at the scene, according to Tim Gruenke, the La Crosse County district attorney. The discrepancy cast doubt on Ulrich’s credibility.

“In reading the reports, primarily Officer Ulrich’s report, and reviewing (body cam) of the incident, there is concern that what was documented in a report by Officer Ulrich is not consistent with what is observed in other (body cam) footage of the incident,” La Crosse Police Department Capt. Phil Martin wrote in a complaint form.

West Salem Police Chief Scott Alo said that his agency, which employs 14 sworn officers, was aware of why Ulrich separated from the La Crosse Police Department and said West Salem’s background investigation was extensive.

“Since joining the department, Sgt. Ulrich has demonstrated a consistent commitment to professionalism,” Alo wrote in an email to The Badger Project. “He applies critical thinking in his decision‑making, follows the law and department policies in a fair and impartial manner and uses his prior experience to mentor newer officers. His focus on helping colleagues develop their skills has contributed positively to the department’s overall performance.”

Ulrich’s police report from La Crosse says he and other officers responded to a complaint about a motorcyclist driving too fast and ignoring traffic control amid Oktoberfest activities in the area. Ulrich — assigned to a bike patrol at the time — wrote that Isaac Avery ignored another officer’s commands to dismount and began driving in Ulrich’s direction.

“Fearing Isaac was going to attempt to run me over, I dismounted my patrol bicycle and put it away from my body in hopes it would provide me some type of protection,” Ulrich wrote in his report. “The motorcycle drove past me, however upon doing so it struck my bike in the kickstand area, causing me to lose grip of the handlebars and causing the bike to land several feet away on the street. The motorcycle then continued to travel southbound out of my view.”

Based on this report, Avery was charged with attempted battery of a police officer. But, according to Gruenke, the body camera footage tells a different story.

“It’s just not what happened,” Gruenke said in a phone interview with The Badger Project.

The body camera footage, Gruenke explained, seems to depict Avery trying to drive around Ulrich rather than at him. Ulrich then throws his bicycle into Avery’s path.

The complaint form from the La Crosse Police Department explains that Ulrich’s body-worn camera wasn’t recording when the incident happened and that Ulrich didn’t note this in his written report.

Avery’s defense attorney told Gruenke to look into the discrepancy between Ulrich’s report and the footage. Based on the new information, Gruenke dismissed the attempted battery charge. Avery eventually pleaded no contest to an OWI charge.

Gruenke said he gave the police department time to look into the incident. Gruenke eventually wrote what’s known as a Brady letter. These letters, regularly written by district attorneys, come from the U.S. Supreme Court cases Brady v. Maryland and Giglio v. United States. These cases obligate prosecutors to disclose any evidence that could call a defendant’s guilt into question — such as whether a police officer who worked on a defendant’s case has credibility problems. A Brady letter is a black mark and can follow an officer from job to job, experts say.

But in Wisconsin, there is no state-maintained list of officers who have Brady letters. Instead, individual district attorneys tend to keep track themselves, according to an article by Wisconsin Watch. This can pose a challenge when an officer leaves one county just to get a policing job in another.

But “we found no basis to question Daniel Ulrich’s integrity,” Alo wrote. “In fact, if Wisconsin had a fair and impartial process through which a law enforcement officer could challenge the opinion of an elected official — and have that challenge adjudicated on its merits — we believe the facts of Mr. Ulrich’s case would clearly overcome the stigma created by this situation.”

Ulrich was scheduled to appear for an investigatory interview in February 2024. But it was cancelled when he announced he would resign. He left the La Crosse Police Department that March.

After Ulrich resigned, the La Crosse Police Department labeled their internal investigation as “incomplete.”

In April 2025, more than a year after he resigned, Ulrich sent a letter to the city’s human resources director outlining his opinion of the police department’s internal investigation.

Ulrich’s letter notes that the La Crosse Police Department did not collect his statement for their investigation. He also references the department’s “early threat of maximum discipline.”

“This, unfortunately, prevented the investigation from accomplishing a full and thorough result, which, I am confident, would have aided the internal investigation in my exoneration and reinstatement,” Ulrich wrote.

Ulrich went on, writing that the West Salem Police Department conducted its own investigation into the 2023 incident and ruled the La Crosse Police Department’s probe was subjective and “hastily judged.”

West Salem’s investigation, Ulrich wrote, included in-depth interviews, a close examination of the body-worn camera footage, consultation with a human performance specialist and a psychological examination. The agency’s investigation “supports a conclusion that I did not intentionally misrepresent my actions during the incident for which I had been investigated.”

Ulrich declined an offer to give his thoughts to The Badger Project, Alo said.

Ulrich’s letter, Gruenke said, didn’t address the actual discrepancy between his written report and the footage and didn’t change Gruenke’s opinion about the Brady letter, however.

“If Dan Ulrich has an explanation for his conduct he hasn’t provided to you, or has received an opinion from an unnamed expert, or if another police jurisdiction disagrees with your department’s process or conclusions; none of those assertions change the fact the police report and the body cam video do not align. My duty remains to inform any defense attorney of that discrepancy,” Gruenke wrote in a July 2025 letter to the La Crosse Police Chief.

This story was funded by a grant from the La Crosse Area Community Foundation.

The Badger Project is an independent, reader-supported news nonprofit in Wisconsin.