STUART, Fla. (CBS12) — Two Stuart police officers were disciplined after an internal affairs investigation found they failed to properly investigate and document a domestic violence call in which a man repeatedly told officers that his girlfriend had punched, hit and slapped him.

Officer Devon Taylor, the primary officer on the Feb. 8 call, was suspended without pay for 36 hours and placed on a six-month performance improvement plan. Officer Ashley Montoya, who responded as a backup officer, was ordered to receive a formal reprimand. Both officers were also directed to undergo additional training in domestic violence investigations, victims’ rights, lethality assessments and related state laws and department policies.

The disciplinary action followed an Internal Affairs investigation into the officers’ response to a Feb. 8 domestic disturbance. According to the investigative summary, dispatch information indicated that a man had reported that his girlfriend was hitting him and that he had locked himself in a bathroom. Once officers arrived, the man said his girlfriend had been “punching me, slapping me, hitting me,” and that he retreated to the bathroom to call 911.

The investigation found that officers did not complete a required domestic violence report that night, did not conduct a lethality assessment, did not provide the alleged victim with required victims’ rights information, and did not adequately investigate reports of a possible injury to his eye. A report was not completed until Feb. 26, after supervisors began reviewing how the call had been handled.

Investigators also found that Taylor changed the call classification from “Domestic Trouble” to “Disturbance” before clearing the scene.

The case came under scrutiny after a Stuart Police Department records coordinator noticed there was no report associated with the domestic call while reviewing a public-records request. She alerted supervisors, prompting Sgt. John Martin to ask Taylor and Montoya about the incident.

According to the investigation, both officers told Martin that the dispute had been verbal and that nothing physical had occurred. Martin later reviewed body-camera footage and found that the man had clearly described being punched, hit and slapped. Family members at the scene also discussed previous incidents involving violence and a knife, according to the report.

Internal Affairs investigated whether Taylor and Montoya intentionally made untruthful statements to a supervisor. Although the investigator concluded their statements were inaccurate, that allegation was not sustained because investigators could not determine that either officer intentionally tried to mislead Martin.

Several other policy violations were sustained against Taylor, including failure to perform her duties, failure to conduct a lethality assessment, failure to properly document injuries and evidence, failure to write a required domestic violence report and failure to provide victims’ rights information.

The investigation found Montoya, as the backup officer, was not primarily responsible for several of those requirements. However, investigators sustained a separate allegation that she failed in her duty to make sure another officer was performing to department standards or to alert a supervisor when that was not happening. Investigators also sustained a Canon of Ethics violation against both Taylor and Montoya for failing to demonstrate sufficient familiarity with domestic violence law and their responsibilities.

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Chief Flamur Zenelovic wrote that Montoya displayed a “lackluster response” to the call and said such a response “cannot be tolerated in Domestic Violence Investigations.” He noted that the victim’s allegations were straightforward and said officers should have recognized that the incident required, at a minimum, a report, victims’ rights information and a lethality assessment.

Zenelovic was more critical of Taylor, describing her response as a “gross” failure to perform her duties. The chief noted that Taylor had previously worked as a detective and field training officer and, as the senior and primary officer, was expected to perform at a higher level.

The chief wrote that officers’ claims that they did not realize what had been said until they later reviewed body-camera footage were unacceptable.

“The allegations were made in a very clear, plain-English tone,” Zenelovic wrote, adding that first responders are expected to listen carefully, ask follow-up questions and protect victims. He also criticized Taylor’s decision to reclassify the call from a domestic incident to a disturbance, writing that the change avoided the additional documentation required for domestic calls.

Taylor later met with the chief and apologized, saying she took full responsibility for her actions, according to the disciplinary report. She served her 36-hour unpaid suspension in July.

The Internal Affairs case was ultimately closed with a sustained final disposition.