FERGUSON, Mo. >> The Ferguson Police Department has suspended a spokesman after he referred to the Michael Brown memorial as “a pile of trash.”

A statement the city provided to The Associated Press on Sunday didn’t identify the officer who made the remark to The Washington Post. The newspaper attributed the comment to Officer Tim Zoll.

The memorial at the site of Brown’s death was damaged last week after a car apparently hit it.

Zoll doesn’t have a listed number and couldn’t be reached by the AP.

The city says the spokesman denied making the comment, but later admitted that he’d misled his bosses.

He has been placed on unpaid leave while “disciplinary proceedings” begin.

City officials said negative remarks about the memorial “do not reflect the feelings of the Ferguson Police Department.”