A former Mt. Pleasant police officer is fighting criminal charges because he fired his police issued pistol.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation arrested Brian Bedsworth. He's accused of unlawfully shooting his gun at a suspect during a high speed chase.
The incident happened on March 21. When neighbor Ricky woke up he said his front yard was a crime scene.
Minutes earlier, Mt. Pleasant police officer Brian Bedsworth pulled over Eddie Roberts.
After a brief discussion, police said Roberts sped away; the officer pulled his pistol and started firing.
"Gunshots - saw a lot," said Ricky. "I think the officer was in the right for doing what he did. Anybody would protect their own life."
The TBI and the Mt. Pleasant police chief disagree. On Thursday, Bedsworth was charged with reckless endangerment with a weapon and reckless aggravated assault.
"As the vehicle was fleeing, leaving the scene, officer Bedsworth drew his gun and discharged it a total of nine times at the vehicle," said Mt. Pleasant police chief Tommy Goetz.
In Goetz' opinion, his officer violated the use of deadly force policy, which allows officers to use deadly force ‘to defend themselves or other persons from what the officer reasonably perceives as an immediate threat of death or serious injury.'
"The greatest fear would have been that an innocent bystander would have got hit, or the gas pumping station's line would have got hit," said Goetz.
The officer was firing in the direction of a natural gas station. Bedsworth's patrol car had a camera, that camera was not working during the particular traffic stop.
Bedsworth is out of the Maury County jail on bond. Soon after the incident Bedsworth resigned from the Mt. Pleasant Police Department, and he did not want to comment on his case.
Since this incident, Goetz said supervisors have once again briefed officers on the department's policy on the use of deadly force.
____________________________
http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=10442286
No comments:
Post a Comment