Author: PoliceOne Senior Editor Doug Wyllie
By Don Jacobs Knoxville News-Sentinel
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The FBI is reviewing the actions of five demoted Knox County sheriff’s deputies who had a 19-year-old driver perform a stunt with a baseball bat in exchange for not issuing him traffic citations.
"We are aware of the allegations and at this time we are conducting some preliminary investigative steps," said Stacie Bohanan, spokeswoman for the Knoxville office of the FBI.
"It’s not a full-blown investigation, but we are in fact-gathering mode."
The FBI won’t be able to review an investigative file of the Knox County Sheriff’s Office into the 1 a.m. Oct. 16 incident because one doesn’t exist.
"There is no investigative file," KCSO spokeswoman Martha Dooley said Monday.
"They admitted to everything, so there was no need to take a statement (from the officers). It was done verbally. The investigation is over because they admitted it."
Dooley said the KCSO probe did not include taking statements from the driver of the stopped car or the four passengers in his 2006 Acura RSX.
Knox County Sheriff Jimmy "J.J." Jones on Friday announced the demotion of officers Brian Rehg, Brad Cox, Jeff Bryant, Jason Acuff and Alex Slate. Each of the officers was demoted from patrol duties to correctional officers and their police powers were suspended.
Jones in a letter to the officers noted their conduct was "unprofessional, inexcusable, unauthorized and intolerable."
"Your incompetent, inefficient and negligent decision to ignore your training, Departmental Policies and Procedures and all around good sense entrusted in you as an officer is absolutely inexcusable and will not be condoned," Jones wrote to the officers.
The incident stemmed from a traffic stop made by Rehg on East Emory Road near Interstate 75, according to records. The silver Acura was driven by Terry Wayne Phillips II, 19, of Heiskell.
Audio and video recordings of the stop released by the KCSO show Rehg threatening to issue Phillips traffic citations for speeding, reckless driving and drag racing. There were no other vehicles involved.
"You could be the only car on the road and I can get you for drag racing," Rehg told Phillips, according to the audio recording from Rehg’s cruiser.
Dooley said Rehg requested backup officers during the traffic stop because there were four passengers in the car. Four other deputies arrived at the scene.
Phillips agreed to a search of his Acura, and officers had the passengers exit the car while they examined it for any contraband. None was found.
The portion of the traffic stop that was recorded reveals a profanity-laced conversation between officers and Phillips. After the officers had Phillips perform a stunt with the baseball bat to make him dizzy, they can be seen laughing so hard one has to wipe tears from his eyes. There is no video recording of Phillips performing the bat stunt.
Dooley said at some point Rehg’s audio recording of the incident was stopped.
"We don’t know if it was intentional or not, but it was not on," Dooley said.
The other four deputies on the scene "did not activate their audio," she said. "General orders state they are supposed to activate their audio with any citizen contact," Dooley said.
Just before Rehg’s audio recording stopped, an officer can be heard presenting Phillips with a proposition that would allow the driver to elude tickets for reckless driving and drag racing, "if you do this good."
Dooley said Acuff provided a baseball bat from the trunk of his cruiser. She said the office keeps a bat in the cruiser to smash a vehicle window to access a disabled or unconscious occupant.
"The proposition was for this kid to put his forehead on the bat and run around the bat until he got dizzy," she said. "Then he had to run around a cruiser and touch all four corners."
After Phillips successfully completed the task without falling down, the laughing officers allowed Phillips and his passengers to leave. After the 34-minute stop, Phillips left with a ticket alleging he was traveling 55 mph in a 45 mph zone.
On Oct. 20, Phillips called the KCSO Office of Professional Standards to file a complaint about the incident. Phillips’ uncle is an officer with the Knoxville Police Department, records show. Phillips declined Monday to speak with the News Sentinel.
An OPS investigator returned Phillips’ call on Oct. 21, Dooley said. When the investigator learned Cox was one of the officers involved, a decision was made to switch the probe to a detective with the Major Crimes Unit.
Cox is the son of Capt. Tom Cox, who oversees the OPS. Brad Cox also has multiple incidents of disciplinary actions in his personnel file, including a reprimand in 2008 for turning off his body microphone during a chase. Dooley said KCSO Capt. Jeff Palmer on Oct. 21 retrieved the speeding citation from Phillips. Under Sheriff Jones’ orders, the ticket was canceled. She said Jones "did not think the proper procedure was followed" so he asked the court to cancel the citation.
John Gill, special counsel in the Knox County District Attorney General’s office, said a prosecutor appeared Oct. 25 before Knox County General Sessions Court Judge Chuck Cerny and said in open court "there was not sufficient evidence to support a speeding citation." Cerny issued an order to nolle prosequi the citation, meaning it will not be acted upon.
Dooley said Sheriff Jones did not fire the officers partly because they were honest about the incident.
"They told the truth," she said. "They admitted their involvement.
"The sheriff said this was a foolish, immature mistake that didn’t rise to the level of termination."
Jones did not specify a length of time for the officers’ demotion and suspension of police powers.
Copyright 2011 Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.
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