Sixteenth Circuit Judge Lee Howard is scheduled to hear arguments Nov. 20 on behalf of four Columbus police officers who lost a month”s salary after a May 5 incident at the Vicksburg National Military Park.
The foursome — officers Wade Beard, Heath Beard, Robert Walker and Cpl. Spence Wallingford — lost an appeal to the Columbus Civil Commission in the matter and are taking their case to circuit court.
The officers were suspended for 15 days — which equates to about a month and more than $3,000 in pay — after being called home from a three-day field sobriety training course sponsored by the Sobriety Trained Officers Representing Mississippi. They also were placed on probation for six months.
Park Ranger Patricia Montague testified before the Columbus Civil Service Commission on June 17. She said the Columbus police officers, Lowndes County Sheriff”s Office Deputy Scott Glasgow and his fiancée, Ashley Kemp, were “acting like idiots,” with the doors of the marked Columbus Police Department cruiser in which they were riding open and its sirens going. Additionally, Glasgow and Kemp were riding in the trunk with a fire extinguisher used to prop the trunk open.
Columbus Police Chief Joseph St. John suspended the officers for their part in the incident, a move supported by the Columbus City Council. Glasgow was given a letter of reprimand, which was to be added to his personnel file.
The law enforcement officers and Kemp signed a letter of apology to Vicksburg National Military Park, Montague and the citizens of Vicksburg saying they “never intended to show a disrespectful manner to the park or Ms. Montague,” a point Wade Beard reiterated in his testimony before the Civil Service Commission.
“I”m a country boy,” said Wade Beard. “Until Lt. (Keith) Worshaim told me what the word ”solemnity” meant, I didn”t know what the word meant.”
Worshaim interviewed the officers and other parties and submitted a report to the CPD”s disciplinary committee; he made no recommendation for action.
STORM launched its own investigation and chose to allow the officers to retain membership in the organization; the investigative committee recommended the officers “be verbally reprimanded and be asked to submit a written apology.”
Wade Beard testified the officers “bumped the siren” and hit the lights while at the Ulysses S. Grant monument in a tribute to Grant.
Montague approached the officers while they were at the monument; she testified she had received at least four complaints about the officers “acting like assholes, idiots, college students.” Two visitors to the park had called the rangers” station; others had stopped her as she drove toward Grant Avenue.
At the time, Wade Beard was driving the police cruiser, assigned to Walker; Heath Beard was riding in the passenger”s seat. Walker and Wallingford were in the back seat, and Glasgow and Kemp were riding in the trunk, which they had requested, according to testimony.
Wade Beard noted they drove one car to save the city money on mileage; the 16-mile road tour through the military park took the group about two hours.
When the group entered the park, Walker, Wallingford, Glasgow and Kemp all were in the back seat.
Montague asked Glasgow and Kemp to get out of the trunk and all parties to put on their seat belts.
Wade Beard testified he had removed his seat belt to pay the attendant at the park entrance. Heath Beard”s seat belt did not work. (Walker already had submitted a request to have it fixed.)
Also, Wade Beard noted, Mississippi state law requires only front-seat passengers and all children under the age of 8 to wear seat belts, and there is no law against riding in the trunk of a car. He also said the couple rode in the trunk for no more than 200 yards, and he was driving no more than 5-10 mph.
The back doors of the police cruiser were “cracked” because the officers did not know how to deactivate the child lock, he said. They stopped at monuments every 50 feet or so, and prior to the doors being cracked, Wade Beard and Heath Beard had to open the back doors to let those in the back seat out at each stop.
Montague also thought Heath Beard”s request to take a picture with her was disrespectful. Heath Beard testified he was taking pictures for his daughter”s school project, Mississippi Notebook. He took more than 40 pictures at the park.
Montague called St. John to report the incident, and the officers returned to Columbus at his request May 6.
The group issued the letter of apology the same day, according to court records.
Heath Beard said the officers and Kemp signed the letter of apology as a “good-faith” gesture, not because they felt they had done something wrong.
Wade Beard said it was done out of professional courtesy, at the request of Michael Vick, chairman of STORM. Wade Beard also noted he signed the letter because he didn”t want Montague to feel disrespected or have any “hard feelings.”
He thought the matter would end there.
Reasons cited for the officers” suspension were driving without a seat belt, violating standard operation of a city vehicle and conduct unbecoming of an officer.
St. John, Vick, and Worshaim also testified at the hearing. Neither Wallingford nor Walker testified before the Civil Service Commission.
The police officers are represented by attorney Rod Ray; Michael Farrow represented the city during the Civil Service Commission appeal. City Attorney Jeff Turnage is listed as the attorney representing the city in the circuit court appeal.
The Vicksburg National Military Park was ordered by Congress in 1899 to commemorate a pivotal battle of the Civil War. The park has more than 1,400 monuments and is the largest Civil War cemetery with more than 18,000 interments, 12,909 of which are unidentified Civil War soldiers.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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