Hamilton County: DUI stop without arrest leads to investigation

A Soddy-Daisy police officer released the mayor’s uncle after a DUI traffic stop Jan. 1 because he thought his job might be in jeopardy, according to the arrest report.

Soddy-Daisy Sgt. Larry Neighbors told Officer Michael Krider that it would be a good idea to release Bob Hargis because of his family connections, according to Officer Krider’s arrest report. Sgt. Neighbors said the city would find a reason to fire Officer Krider if he didn’t, the report states.

“I then felt that my job was being threatened and decided to let Mr. Hargis go if someone would pick him up,” Officer Krider wrote in the report.

Officer Krider released Mr. Hargis, who never was booked on any charge, according to the police report.

Sgt. Neighbors could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.

Soddy-Daisy Attorney Sam Elliott began investigating the incident in mid-January and forwarded his investigation report to Hamilton County District Attorney Bill Cox on Jan. 30. In a letter included with the investigation report, Mr. Elliott concluded “the unfortunate irregularities” did not warrant any actions from his office other than sending the information to Mr. Cox.

Mr. Hargis could not be reached for comment.

About 2 a.m. on Jan. 1, Officer Krider pulled over Mr. Hargis’ red pickup truck after the vehicle ran a stop sign, almost hit the officer’s patrol car and swerved near the intersection of Old Dayton Pike and Dayton Pike, according to the arrest report. When Mr. Hargis refused to take a field sobriety test, Officer Krider arrested him for driving under the influence, the police report states.

Mr. Hargis and other family members who arrived on the scene said “Gene-o” would hear about the incident, referring to Soddy-Daisy Mayor Gene Shipley, the nephew of Mr. Hargis, the police report states.

After Officer Krider arrived with Mr. Hargis at the Soddy-Daisy police station, Sgt. Neighbors also appeared there, the report states. Sgt. Neighbors then told Officer Krider that he had been called by City Manager Janice Cagle. Ms. Cagle had told Sgt. Neighbors that Mr. Shipley had called her, saying he didn’t want Mr. Hargis to go to jail, according to the police report.

In testimony for Mr. Elliott’s investigation, Ms. Cagle said she asked Sgt. Neighbors if there was any way Mr. Hargis could avoid going to the Hamilton County Jail, but she did not promise or threaten anything, according to the report. She said she also asked if Officer Krider was “OK with this,” according to the investigation.

Ms. Cagle said Tuesday she shouldn’t have made the phone call and also apologized to the third-shift police officers after learning they were upset.

“I felt like I had overstepped my boundaries or at least some of them perceived maybe that I had,” Ms. Cagle said. “I don’t want the police department to ever think me or the board of commissioners would give them reason to fear for their jobs.”

Mr. Shipley said Tuesday he did not instruct anyone to do anything, but he asked if Mr. Hargis had to go to jail or if he could be released to family members.

“I think if it hadn’t been my uncle, it wouldn’t have gotten out of proportion as much as it did,” Mr. Shipley said. “I didn’t do for my uncle what I wouldn’t have done for anybody in town that night.”

He said he felt comfortable asking whether Mr. Hargis should go to jail or be handed over to family members because police officers in the past had contacted him and other commissioners for help in other DUI incidents. The officers asked whether he or someone else could pick up the DUI suspect rather than take the person to jail, Mr. Shipley said.

In his testimony, Mr. Shipley said he thought certain holiday circumstances allowed officers to release DUI suspects to family members.

In Mr. Elliott’s investigation, another Soddy-Daisy officer on the scene testified that Sgt. Neighbors told Officer Krider his job “probably” would be in jeopardy if he arrested Mr. Hargis. But Sgt. Neighbors testified that he told Officer Krider that he did not think the officer’s job would be in jeopardy, according to Mr. Elliott’s report.

The night of the incident, Mr. Shipley also contacted then-Lt. Phillip Hamrick — now the Soddy-Daisy police chief — and asked if Mr. Hargis could be kept in the City Hall’s holding area rather than in the county jail, according to Mr. Elliott’s report.

In testimony, Chief Hamrick said the mayor did not ask him to release Mr. Hargis. The chief also said that, at an officer’s discretion, DUI suspects can be taken home by family members, according to Mr. Elliott’s report.

Chief Hamrick said Tuesday he had not read the report and could not comment because of its pending status with the district attorney.

Soddy-Daisy Vice Mayor Bob Privett said Tuesday that Ms. Cagle apologized and told him she let friendship interfere with her judgment.

“As far as the investigation goes, I think that we need to reiterate what is ethical and what is not ethical and what a commissioner can do and what a commissioner can’t do,” Mr. Privett said. “Certainly if there have been laws violated, I am certainly not a part of the cover-up.”

Mr. Shipley said the city may look into instituting a policy that forbids officers from calling commissioners to intervene in any situation.

The mayor said he does not expect the commission to discuss the DUI incident until Mr. Cox makes a decision about it.

Commissioner David Skiles, however, said he expects the issue to come up at the commission’s Feb. 19 meeting. A meeting for Thursday, Feb. 5, was canceled because of a death in Mr. Privett’s family.

“There were people wanting to know a lot of answers to some questions,” Mr. Skiles said. “People are real concerned what’s going on in this little town.”