UPDATE: Former City Councilwoman Andrea Gordy has dropped her accusation against Varnell Police Chief Lyle Grant. The chief has said time stamps at city hall would show that he was in the office when a police vehicle allegedly followed Gordy out of city limits.
"I just want this all to stop and put it all behind me so that i can focus on my family," she said.
Whitfield County Sheriff Scott Chitwood said the case is technically open, though Gordy's attorney, Sam Sanders, told the department "she does not wish to speak with the detective regarding the complaint."
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ORIGINAL STORY: A former Varnell, Ga., city councilwoman accused the police chief Tuesday of following her around town and trying to intimidate her.
The chief's response?
"That's a lie straight from Hades," Lyle Grant said Wednesday. "Nothing about it is true."
Here's the build-up to the fight: On June 13, Grant and another police officer went to the home of Sheldon Fowler, a Varnell city councilman. Fowler's wife had called about a domestic argument, saying he had mixed alcohol and Ambien. Officers reported finding him ranting.
They did not arrest him. Grant said Fowler's wife did not want him in jail; she just wanted the officers to help him go to sleep. Grant then told the city manager and mayor about the issue. A couple of days later, City Councilwoman Andrea Gordy heard that officers had been at Fowler's house. She then heard there was police body camera footage of the encounter.
She and Councilman Jan Pourquoi asked to watch the video. In it, they say, Fowler was drunk and yelling about rumors he heard concerning the personal lives of Grant and Mayor Anthony Hulsey. Soon after, Grant filed charges against Fowler for disorderly conduct and assault on an officer, for poking Grant and his lieutenant in the chest. The video has since been restricted from open records requests.
On June 28, Fowler resigned from the council. On July 11, Gordy and two other council members voted to immediately eliminate the police department. They criticized the chief for waiting so long to arrest Fowler. But they said this was only the tip of the iceberg: Officers have crashed their cars in the past, leading to almost $1 million worth of settlements and increases in the city's liability insurance premium. They believe the $300,000-a-year police department can be replaced in the town of 1,800, which covers about 3 square miles.
Hulsey later vetoed the council's vote, reinstating the police department. Then, amid a lawsuit claiming she lives outside city limits, Gordy resigned. Pourquoi and Councilman David Owens said they will put a referendum on the ballot this November, asking residents if they want to cut the department.
On Monday morning, Gordy shared online a Dalton Daily Citizen editorial that criticized Varnell residents for loudly lambasting Gordy, Owens and Pourquoi at recent meetings. In a comment on her post, she said she couldn't wait for people to see the body camera footage from Fowler's arrest, with his rants about Grant and the mayor.
In response, Grant posted on a Varnell community page: "She likes pointing fingers at someone else but forgets there are four pointing back at her, because in comparison her arrest video is much more disturbing."
He then posted a mugshot from Gordy's February 2016 arrest, in which her ex-husband accused her of simple battery. (That case is still pending.) He also shared a picture from Gordy's 2010 arrest in Catoosa County. The case is not in the superior court's database, and Gordy said she was charged with criminal trespass when she tried to evict her non-paying tenants from a double-wide trailer. The charges were quickly dropped.
"It was a BS thing," she said.
Grant said he shared her mugshots to highlight her character.
"She's talking about how bad we are and how bad I am," he said. "And this is the type of person that's making those accusations. She doesn't even have room to talk."
On Tuesday, she said, she was driving to a property on Brookview Drive that she is selling when she noticed a police car behind her. She said she recognized it as Grant's car, even though they were far from Varnell city limits. She said she went inside the home and watched from the window as the vehicle circled the neighborhood twice.
"He's trying to intimidate me," she said. "He doesn't want the tape [from Fowler's arrest] talked about. The only thing they know is harassment and intimidation."
Gordy filed a complaint about the event with the Whitfield County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday. Grant denies following her or being near that home in question. He said he was at City Hall Tuesday morning until a scheduled 11 a.m. meeting with District Attorney Bert Poston, at which they discussed the pending Fowler case. Councilwoman Ashlee Godfrey said Grant clocked out from City Hall around 10:30 a.m. and signed in at Poston's office about 20 minutes later.
She does not believe Grant tried to intimidate Gordy.
"There are other police departments in the area that drive black Ford Explorers [like Grant's]," she said. "It could have been another police officer going down through that district. I have no clue."
Contact staff writer Tyler Jett at 423-757-6476 or tjett@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @LetsJett.