Three Columbus police officers filed appeals with the Civil Service Commission last week to overturn their recent suspensions by the City Council.
Lt. John Pevey, who recently qualified to run for Lowndes County sheriff, and Officer Rick Higgins were suspended Feb. 22 for 20 days at the recommendation of Police Chief Joseph St. John.
In a separate case, Officer Heath Beard was also suspended five days for wrecking a squad car and 10 days for insubordination.
The discipline of Pevey and Higgins stemmed from a New Year”s Eve incident, when Pevey allegedly failed to properly report that Higgins” squad car had been totaled after it stalled in a deep puddle.
The council rejected St. John”s recommendation to demote Pevey, who claims he followed all the required procedures.
“I”m hopeful the Civil Service Commission will vindicate me and show I”ve done nothing wrong,” Pevey said.
The Civil Service Commission will schedule a hearing for the officers” appeals at its regular meeting Thursday.
“We”re going to present our appeal before (the commissioners) and hopefully they”ll be reasonable and prudent and render a decision in my favor,” Pevey said.
If the officers” suspensions are overturned, they may be entitled to back pay.
The details surrounding the suspension of Beard were still unclear, but this isn”t his first run-in with departmental policies.
Beard and three other Columbus police officers appealed their 15-day suspensions before the Civil Service Commission in 2009 after they behaved inappropriately at a Vicksburg field sobriety training course.
Beard, Wade Beard, Robert Walker and then-Cpl. Spence Wallingford, along with a Lowndes County sheriff”s deputy and his fiancee, allegedly drove through Vicksburg National Military Park in a marked squad car with the doors open, lights flashing and siren wailing.
The officers ultimately lost their appeal in Lowndes County Circuit Court.
Heath Beard was also named, along with Officer Rick Jones, in a wrongful-death lawsuit against the city for the alleged beating death of 52-year-old Roosevelt Pernell Jr.
Pernell was found dead in a Lowndes County jail cell Feb. 22, 2007, after he was arrested by Beard and Jones. Reports indicate Pernell was in a physical altercation with a woman at an apartment complex prior to his arrest, which may have led to his fatal head injury. He was arrested later that night for public drunkenness.
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