NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Records show a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper has retired after being disciplined for not allowing the state’s only black female appellate judge into the Supreme Court building.
The Tennessean reports the discipline memo from Department of Safety and Homeland Security Commissioner Bill Gibbons says Trooper Brent Gobbell was reprimanded and docked one day’s pay due to the incident. The paperwork said he turned away Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Camille McMullen, who was trying to drop off paperwork for another judge on June 14.
“Upon Judge McMullen presenting you with her official judicial identification card, you refused to take it into your possession and verify its authenticity. Instead, you told Judge McMullen, ‘Those are easy to come by.’ You were implying that her identification card could possibly be fraudulent without knowing what kind of identification she was presenting,” Gibbons wrote.
Gobbell allowed McMullen to give the paperwork to a clerk, who passed it along.
The trooper later apologized by email, but records show he was disciplined because his actions displayed “an utter disregard to proper procedures regarding accepting proper procedures and allowing appropriate personnel access to the Tennessee Supreme Court building.”