In a wide-ranging Facebook Live interview Tuesday with TV personality Rick “Don’t Go” Mason, Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard claimed he was being targeted by local law enforcement because of a grudge held by an ex-Columbus Police Department officer.
Beard, 35, was arrested Monday for the second time this month, this time for possession of marijuana and possession of a controlled substance that deputies believe to be methamphetamine. Both substances were misdemeanor amounts, Lowndes County Sheriff Eddie Hawkins told The Dispatch.
The bust happened when Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office deputies came to his house looking for 29-year-old Quavis Betts, to serve an indictment for two armed robberies in June at the Columbus Waffle House.
On Dec. 1 Beard was busted in Gordo, Alabama, and charged with possession of marijuana-second offense, possession of paraphernalia, illegal alcohol and driving under the influence-first offense. Betts — who was also arrested — was in the car with Beard at the time.
During the interview, which was streamed live on Beard’s Facebook page and watched by nearly 500 viewers at its peak, Beard told Mason two sheriff’s deputies knocked on his door and then walked inside. They arrested Betts, and then “put everybody in handcuffs.”
He did not say how many were at his home.
“They said they smelled marijuana so they’re detaining everybody,” Beard said. “It took them three hours to get a search warrant.”
One of the deputies was a former CPD officer who now works for the sheriff’s office, Beard said, though he did not identify the officer.
“He told me, ‘I can’t wait to lock your bitch ass up,’” Beard said. “‘I can’t wait to see you on the news.’ … I feel like I was targeted because he is not an employee of the city of Columbus anymore. … He was rude, nasty, (and) he had a personal vendetta.”
Beard also said he didn’t think the officers knew they were coming to his house, that they were just sent to an address.
Beard said he uses marijuana because he suffers from migraines.
“I have a neurologist in Tupelo that I see frequently,” Beard said. “I’m in the process of getting me a (medical marijuana) card.”
He did not address the other substance deputies found.
Beard said he took responsibility for his actions.
“I take full responsibility for anything I have done,” Beard said. “If I’m wrong, I admit it, but if I’m not wrong, I’m going to fight.”
Beard told The Dispatch on Tuesday morning of his plans to speak with Mason. He did not return a followup call after the noon interview.
Sheriff: No vendetta against Beard
Hawkins told The Dispatch several officers who worked Monday night were former CPD officers, and he didn’t know which one Beard was referring to.
“What he alleges didn’t happen,” Hawkins said. “There’s no vendetta, and they don’t talk like that. They are professional, especially when their captain is there.”
Beard and Betts were the only two people in the house when deputies arrived, Hawkins said, and he acknowledged both were placed in handcuffs.
“(Beard) wasn’t treated any differently than anybody else,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins told The Dispatch that despite rumors to the contrary, Beard was charged with possession of marijuana and possession of a controlled substance that authorities believe to be methamphetamine.
The confusion arose when a charge was erroneously entered into the jail booking system indicating Beard had been charged with possession of cocaine, but that was later corrected, Hawkins said.
Beard had a tablet in his possession that Hawkins said could be either meth or ecstacy. The pill will need to be tested, and Hawkins said he believes with a high degree of confidence that it will turn out to be meth.
“If he had had two tablets, it would have been a felony amount,” Hawkins said, adding that would be true of either substance.
Beard addresses past incidents
Beard also told Mason his version of his previous brushes with the law.
In January 2021, Beard was cited for marijuana possession after he was allegedly the passenger in a vehicle that was pulled over by a sheriff’s deputy near the intersection of Jess Lyons Road and Military Road.
Beard told Mason he took the rap in that case for a friend.
“I was in the car with someone who had papers, and so instead of letting him take a charge for a few roaches in the ashtray, I said it was mine,” Beard said. “I felt like it (was) nothing. … It was in the newspaper five minutes later.”
Ten months later Beard was arrested and charged with misdemeanor domestic violence after allegedly firing a gun in the air while arguing with his wife at their home.
Beard claimed the incident was a personal matter and he and his now ex-wife “solved it.”
“My ex-wife told me yesterday that every time I get in trouble they bring her up,” Beard said. “We’re trying to raise our kids and she wants the media to leave her alone. … The domestic violence charge, it happened, we got through it and we solved it.”
Beard, at the Dec. 5 city council meeting, claimed the Gordo police pulled him over because he didn’t have a tag on his brand new car.
He repeated that story to Mason, but denied statements by Gordo Chief Johnny Stephenson that alleged he tried to use his position as a councilman to get out of the arrest.
“I had to judge a science fair at Columbus Middle School that day and I was wearing a city of Columbus shirt and some khakis,” Beard said. “My ID was in my khakis. … I told him my name was Councilman Pierre Beard and I did not have my ID but I could give him my (Social Security number) or whatever he needs.”
Beard said he had a closed liquor bottle in the back seat, but he disputed that anybody was smoking weed or drinking in the car.
“I had just dropped my son off at my grandma’s house,” Beard said. “I was going to Tuscaloosa to see a friend girl who was cooking fajitas.”
Beard did not address his alleged connection to the Waffle House robberies. At the time Betts was arrested in a hotel room at the La Quinta Inn booked under Beard’s name.
Columbus Police Department Chief Joseph Daughtry told the Columbus Rotary Club in August that video surveillance showed Beard and Betts interacting around the time of the robbery, and he planned on presenting the case to the grand jury.
Betts was indicted. Beard has not been.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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