Police officers involved in the Nizah Morris courtesy ride handed in patrol logs about the incident that departed from established police procedure, according to a police directive obtained by PGN.

Morris, 47, was a transgender woman who died after receiving a “courtesy ride” from Philadelphia police in December 2002.

Police Directive 103, which was in effect at the time of the Morris incident, states that patrol logs should be as detailed as possible — especially when the logs aren’t accompanied by incident reports.

Officers Kenneth Novak, Elizabeth DiDonato and Thomas Berry acknowledge knowing about the courtesy ride given to Morris shortly before her fatal injury. Yet none of their patrol logs contains information about the ride, even though they failed to submit written reports about it.

The officers declined to comment for this story.

The directive also states that officers should cross out any misinformation on their patrol logs when they realize it’s incorrect. Rather than specifying a courtesy ride, the logs submitted by the officers indicate that Morris actually was taken to a hospital.

None of the officers made any attempt to cross out this incorrect information and add correct information.

When the officers visited Morris at the hospital a few hours after the courtesy ride, she was in intensive care — breathing but brain-dead.

Again, the officers’ logs mention neither the severity of her injuries nor the need for a detective to investigate the matter — also a departure from Directive 103, which calls for specificity under such circumstances.

“It is most important that the narrative [in patrol logs] be thorough and contain all available pertinent information,” the directive states.

Novak told investigators his patrol log contained inaccuracies because he wrote the entries while en route to the Morris assignment, when facts about the case weren’t clear to him.

But this explanation conflicts with the directive, which states that police activities while en route to an assignment are considered to be “unnecessary information” and shouldn’t be included in a log.

Novak’s explanation for the inaccuracies also conflicts with a section of the directive stating that incorrect information on a log should be crossed out when accurate information becomes available; Novak didn’t do that.

In addition, DiDonato and Novak also recorded in their patrol logs that they became involved in a new matter — a car stop — at 3:30 a.m. Dec. 22, a few minutes after the Morris assignment was completed.

Computerized dispatch records indicate that DiDonato and Novak didn’t become involved in the car stop until 40 minutes after they say the Morris assignment was finished.

This information is significant because authorities have defended the actions of Novak and DiDonato by noting that they were busy with the car stop, which impeded their ability to write detailed narratives about the ride.

Neither officer has publicly explained why they listed the same incorrect information of 3:30 a.m. for the time of the car stop.

Relatives of Morris are particularly concerned about the lack of accurate paperwork on the part of the officers. They suspect that police engaged in a cover-up and know more about the incident than their logs indicate.

The police department turned down PGN’s request for a copy of Directive 103, filed under the state’s Right-to-Know Act; a copy of the directive was obtained from an alternate source.

The Morris case remains under investigation by the city’s Police Advisory Commission.

Timothy Cwiek can be reached at (215) 625-8501 ext. 208.