Anderson, SC (Independent Mail) — Two Anderson police officers were fired and a third resigned last week, Police Chief Jim Stewart said.
Stewart has declined to discuss the reasons for, and circumstances behind, the dismissals, calling what happened "a personnel matter." He said the city has a policy of not discussing personnel matters.
The officers' ties with the Anderson Police Department were severed Aug. 7, he said.
Stewart released to the Independent Mail a July 19 police incident report that is connected to the dismissal, but declined to discuss how the record ties into the terminations.
The report details several police officers responding to a complaint that two men were harassing customers at Murphy Gas Station on State 28 Bypass. According to the report, officers tracked one of the men to a church on Southwood Street and arrested him. According to the police report, officers seized two Stanley wrenches and a pair of Pugs sunglasses. According to the police report, an officer noticed a bulge in the man's cheek as he was getting into a patrol car. The thing in his cheek "field tested positive" as methamphetamine, according to the police report.
The man was charged with shoplifting, failing to accompany an officer and possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute it near a school. According to Anderson County court records, those charges are all still pending.
The Independent Mail has filed a Freedom of Information request seeking more information about the officers' dismissals.
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