Starkville aldermen on Monday unanimously rejected officer Jeremy Akins’ letter of resignation and fired the three-year Starkville Police Department veteran.
Disciplinary reports obtained by The Dispatch show Police Chief Frank Nichols recommended the termination because of how Akins reacted to being placed on administrative leave, not how the law enforcement agent handled a specific Nov. 23 detention at Sitel.
Aldermen emerged with the decision after an almost hour-long, closed-door meeting with Nichols. Neither Akins, nor Lydia Quarles, his attorney, were present.
A report signed Nov. 24 shows Nichols concurred with Capt. Mark Ballard’s and Assistant Chief John C. Thomas’ recommendation that Akins be suspended (for one to three days), placed on a six-month probation and attend sensitivity training.
The recommendations came because “Akins confronted multiple people at gunpoint and used disruptive and vulgar language while doing so,” and because his body camera was not activated for the entirety of his time on scene, the report states.
A subsequent report, dated Dec. 1, states Akins “became angry and started to direct abusive language while pointing a pen” in the police chief’s direction when the officer learned he was placed on administrative leave on Nov. 24.
After that incident, Nichols drafted a letter recommending aldermen fire Akins for “major insubordination.”
“Akins became very emotional as he stood up in front of my desk, in a loud tone stating that I had already made up my mind! He continued to express in a loud tone how karma was a bitch, and I’d be getting to know the Police Benevolent Association pretty well,” Nichols’ second report states. “He continued on angrily express (sic) how he was the best damn officer I had in this department and I was making a big mistake. I asked him again to sign the notice. He did after three requests. After which he began to apologize for getting mad.”
In his grievance statement with the city, Akins wrote Nichols “told me that I followed proper police procedure” during the Nov. 23 incident at Sitel. He also stated he never drew his sidearm or shouldered his rifle at any individual.
Nichols’ second report gave Akins the “option to voluntarily resign in lieu of termination” or “continue on administrative leave with pay until the final decision on your termination is made by the board of aldermen.”
Quarles confirmed the officer submitted his resignation before Monday’s meeting, but aldermen did not say why they rejected the letter and opted to fire him instead.
“No comments” were issued by Nichols, Mayor Parker Wiseman and the board of aldermen, as leaders said they cannot discuss personnel issues.
The O’Bryant detention
Akins’ narrative of Nov. 23 states SPD was dispatched to Sitel after a 911 call reported a woman was held at gunpoint by an African-American man wearing, among other garments, a black jacket.
Akins arrived at the scene about 8 p.m. and came into contact with an African-American male, Walter Quantez O’Bryant, who was wearing clothing similar to the description of the suspect.
O’Bryant previously told The Dispatch he was at the business visiting his girlfriend when Akins pulled up, exited his vehicle, pointed a rifle at him and ordered him to the ground.
“I’m trying to tell him I’m not the guy he’s looking for. The first thing he did when he got out of the car was cock his rifle,” O’Bryant said in December.
A review of the body camera footage shot from Akins’ point of view — given to The Dispatch by Akins’ attorney — that night does not show Akins training his rifle on O’Bryant.
The officer is seen exiting his police cruiser and placing his rifle across his body, but neither that weapon nor his service handgun come into camera view again during the interaction with O’Bryant.
O’Bryant was ordered to the ground for about a minute as Akins clarified the suspect’s description with dispatchers. Akins is seen pointing with his left hand at O’Bryant and is heard yelling “shut up” and for O’Bryant to “keep his hands where he can see them.”
The incident ends when at least one woman at the scene said the officer detained the wrong person.
Akins apologized to O’Bryant and briefly explained he stopped O’Bryant because he was wearing clothing similar to the description of the reported suspect.
The totality of the night
Body camera footage shows Akins continued patrolling Sitel’s parking lot with his rifle after the O’Bryant detention.
At least one other SPD officer is seen brandishing an assault rifle similar to Akins’ later in the footage.
Akins appears to have trouble distinguishing between employees and the suspect because it is believed the suspect was a Sitel employee, and many workers were seen that night wearing similar clothing.
He approached a second African-American man and identified him as an employee without ordering him to the ground and without training his weapon on him. Next, Akins encountered two women near Sitel’s facility. He asked the pair to move away from the building because of the potentially dangerous situation.
Almost immediately after the third encounter, body camera footage shows the officer ordering two men to the ground. The men – both Sitel employees – were standing on a porch adjacent to an entrance into the building.
As he approached the porch, Akins’ rifle comes into the body camera’s view. It appears he had his weapon in a ready position, but it was not trained directly on the men. Akins is also heard swearing at the two men after one of them first used an obscenity.
At 8:15 p.m., Akins and other SPD officers entered the building, secured the premises and conducted interviews with those claiming they were threatened by the armed man.
A second body camera video obtained by The Dispatch concludes at 8:47 p.m. when Akins exits the facility.
A third video shows Akins in mid-confrontation with at least five people in Sitel’s parking lot six minutes later.
A letter written by O’Bryant states his mother and brother arrived at Sitel while officers swept the building. Akins, the complaint states, later approached the crowd to apologize.
The 53-second video begins at the end of what appears to have been a moment of tension between the officer and the concerned crowd.
Akins told a woman, believed to be Vanessa Miles-Bush, O’Bryant’s mother, he was trying “to apologize … and let you know the situation.”
Another woman is heard saying the officer turned his camera on because he was ready to shoot somebody.
“No, I turned the camera on so that y’all couldn’t say I’m doing something I’m not supposed to be doing,” Akins said.
A letter penned by LaMarcus Bush, O’Bryant’s brother, states he called Nichols that night to inform the chief of Akins’ actions.
“That’s when I said, ‘You were about to take my life’ (with a tone). That’s when he turned his body camera on and said, ‘Do we have a problem buddy’ (repeatedly) and started walking towards me. Things had started to get out hand (sic) with the officer and the crowd,” the letter states. “My mother told him, ‘Just go on’ repeatedly. ‘We will handle it in the morning.’ He responded, ‘OK, that’s the way you all want to handle it’ (with a tone). The apology wasn’t sincere, and you could tell from his demeanor and the way he was talking.”
Issues with the grievance policy
In a Dec. 7 letter sent to Nichols, Wiseman and city attorney Chris Latimer, Quarles alleges SPD botched its handling of Akins’ grievance process.
The city’s employee grievance procedure outlines a five-step process: A statement of grievance is first drafted, then a discussion with the aggrieved employee’s supervisor is supposed to occur. Grievances can then be pushed up the chain of command to the employee’s department head, the city’s personnel officer and finally to the mayor and board of aldermen through a petition effort.
During the second phase of the process, Quarles claims Akins’ superiors avoided discussing the situation.
“Obviously these gentlemen do not understand that the objective of Step II is to ‘attempt to resolve the matter,'” the attorney states.
Akins, she wrote, was then instructed to appear before the assistant chief instead of Nichols.
“It appears to me that the manner in which your department is handling this grievance procedure is highly irregular. The nature of a grievance process is to resolve grievances. By effectively thwarting the resolution process, you are tainting any outcome of this employment dispute,” Quarles wrote in her letter to Nichols. “Additionally, you are treating Mr. Akins in a disparate manner by not allowing his grievance to be handled consistent with other employees and consistent with the process adopted by the board.”
Recommending the board fire Akins before conducting its hearing also tainted the fifth step, she wrote.
“Under the Employee Grievance Procedure, the board acts as a fact-finder and ultimate resolution maker. However, because information has already been shared with board members, the opportunity for an unbiased outcome has been lost,” Quarles letter states.
It is not known if further legal action is planned.
Board action reminiscent of Columbus firing
The board’s decision to fire an employee that had already tendered a resignation letter basically mirrors a situation Columbus city councilmen faced in October.
Then, councilmen voted 5-1 to fire former Columbus police officer Canyon Boykin two weeks after the police-involved shooting of Ricky Ball.
Prior to the board’s action, Boykin attempted to resign his post. A motion to accept the resignation failed and was replaced by a motion to fire Boykin.
A Mississippi Attorney General’s opinion written to Jeff Turnage, Columbus’ city attorney, in November states “acceptance by the municipal governing authorities of the resignation of a municipal employee is not required in order for the employee’s resignation to become effective.”
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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