Columbia County Sheriff Mark Hunter’s quick response in punishing two deputies for their improper actions and policy violations during a recent encounter with a pedestrian in Lake City shows the sheriff’s leadership and it deserves a closer look.
CCSO Sgt. Randy Harrison was suspended, demoted and placed on a two-year wait list for any future advancement. Deputy Jayme Gohde was suspended for two days. Both must complete civil rights training.
The two deputies were reprimanded for department policy violations after they stopped and arrested James Hodges, a legally blind Lake City man walking downtown, on the morning of October 31. Gohde thought Hodges had a weapon, but it was a fold-up walking stick. Hodges has been cleared of all charges and wrongdoing. Gohde’s body camera video of the encounter and arrest was posted on YouTube by Hodges and has gone viral.
Sheriff Hunter has taken a beating from the faceless keyboard bullies on social media. Some of it is to be expected, but there are a lot of people in the world with too much time on their hands and about half as much sense.
Police do a thankless job every minute each officer or deputy is on shift. This newspaper always backs the blue as a unit. But, we always say bad police work must be noticed, worked through and punished when necessary. The video shows, without question, mistakes were made by both responding deputies in this incident.
Sheriff Hunter received the complaint of wrongdoing on November 3 and on November 8 announced the findings of his investigation. We can debate whether the punishment of the deputies was severe enough until the campfire grows cold. The punishment is what it is and it’s time to move forward.
The sheriff handled the investigation quickly and this is refreshing. Hunter is a longstanding top-flight law enforcement officer with a track record of running a tight department with a military structure. We stand behind him that the punishment fits the violation. He knows the previous behavior of the two deputies in question. He knows their track record and their potential.
Hunter apologized publicly, via video, to Hodges and the residents he represents. He acknowledged the mistakes of his deputies and that an incident like this gives his entire department a black eye. He vowed that every member of his department will learn from this and vowed to do better. We agree, you cannot violate a person’s civil rights for simply walking down the street in a normal manner. Also, there’s a right way and a wrong way to talk to people and uniformed officers of the law must get it right and be professional.
What was very uncommon was Sheriff Hunter’s quick investigation, his swift action and his public apology. He owned the mistake and took responsibility for the actions of his deputies. For this, whether you agree with his supervisory actions or not, Hunter deserves respect. Too often in today’s society, law enforcement officials want to hide behind the “open investigation” and shrug off quick action or responsibility. Sheriff Hunter “manned up” immediately and took action that hopefully will prevent such an occurrence from happening again.