NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper was terminated after being caught on video pulling a mask off of a protester's face.
Trooper Harvey Briggs was terminated Friday for "unprofessional conduct."
A video surfaced of him interacting with protester, Andrew Golden, on the State Capitol grounds. Golden was recording a traffic stop of a woman near the Capitol, during which the protester claims Briggs ripped the protester's face mask off and threw it on the ground.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol released the following statement:
Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security Commissioner Jeff Long and Tennessee Highway Patrol Colonel Dereck Stewart today announced that a trooper in the Capitol Protection Unit has been terminated following an internal investigation into department policy violations.
Trooper Harvey Briggs, a 22-year veteran of the department was served a termination notice on Friday, August 14, 2020 for unprofessional conduct. The department placed Trooper Briggs on discretionary leave with pay on August 12, after the department opened an investigation into reported policy violations on August 11.
It is the Department of Safety and Homeland Security’s policy to warn, suspend, demote or dismiss any employee whenever just or legal cause exists. Employees shall not commit any act that would reflect discredit upon themselves or the department while on or off duty.
The video of the full interaction can be seen below.
PrinceHumperTinkTink on August 15th, 2020 at 18:35 UTC »
It's great that there is a little justice here, but it still sickens me that oversight among LEOs (where the use of lethal force is part of their job) is seemingly entirely dependent on nearby citizens who happen to be recording on their phone and having that video go viral.
He didn't get terminated for what he did, he got terminated for being caught on video doing it.
holamahalo on August 15th, 2020 at 16:44 UTC »
Is there a website that tracks when disgraced cops are hired again by a different department? Would be great to know how many of your own local cops were fired from other departments for shit like this.
Edit: So this blew up and I'll post some good info from down thread. The biggest obstacle to this seems to be getting the data. States have what's called a Brady List showing officers that can't be trusted in court but it may not be public to everyone ( I'm not sure if it's public. This is the first I've heard of it and the Avalanche are playing so let's make this quick). Also shout out to https://old.reddit.com/r/DataPolice. If this inspires anyone to build a website or app please do.
GenDepravity on August 15th, 2020 at 16:38 UTC »
Protester? The guy was filming a traffic stop.