PARIS — Three Logan County deputies were put on paid leave last week when a situation where a bear had been struck by a motorist on Ark. Hwy. 109 just south of the entrance to the Paris City Lake resulted in the bear being “put down” by responding deputies.
Sheriff Boyd Hicks issued a lengthy statement, posted on the Logan County Sheriff Facebook page, about the incident that has since been investigated. In that statement, Hicks said he men were put on suspension because they violated several polices involving the policies of the sheriff’s office.
The suspended deputies were not identified in the initial reporting or the statement by Hick.
This is his statement in it’s entirety:
“For those of you who have heard one or more versions of the incident with the injured black bear last week, I just want to give you the details surrounding the incident and the reason for the subsequent disciplinary action taken.
My Deputies were not suspended for putting an injured animal out of it’s misery, it is a common practice. But, rather, because they were not dispatched to the scene or called for assistance (they just went), it was Paris PD’s accident in the City limits of Paris, Arkansas.
And when they arrived the Paris Officers told them that the Game and Fish was on their way and would be there in 10 minutes. This was repeated several times by Paris Dispatch. They were told that a Wildlife Officer and Game and Fish Biologist was on the way. Paris Officers had been advised by AGFC to just keep an eye on the bear and “if” something changed and/or the bear posed a public safety risk, they could put it down if they could do so in a safe manner. The bear was visible from the Highway and never moved from where it stopped running after the accident.
One of my Deputies decided to go into the woods to just observe the bear and make sure he didn’t leave before AGFC got there, which wasn’t a real problem. Two other Deputies went with him just in case something changed. Still no problem.
However, after observing the bear one Deputy decided the bear needed to be put down and fired at the bear causing it to raise up at which time another Deputy fired several rounds at the bear.
Then, one of the Deputies stated, “I just killed my first bear”.
There were also other Agency policies that were violated by the Deputies that have nothing to do with the shooting of the bear.
Then afterwards, when the Chief Deputy instructed them to fill out a statement in regard to the incident and leave it in his box so he could inform me the next morning, one of them chose not to do so!
It wasn’t that the bear might not have needed to be put down, it’s that it wasn’t their call! Paris Police Department was the Agency in charge in this incident (it was in their jurisdiction), they had contacted the Arkansas Game and Fish and they had a Wildlife Officer and Game Biologist on the way. The situation was under control.
” If ” we had been dispatched to the scene, the correct response should have been to ask the Paris Officers how we could assist them and then do so. Not to take control of a situation that was clearly under control by two other Agencies.
Going up into the woods to make sure the bear didn’t leave would have been appropriate but taking matters into their own hands when AGFC had been contacted and was within two minutes of being there, is unacceptable. We assist other Agencies every day, but we don’t take over other Agencies incidents or interfere with their investigations, ever!!!
These men are good Deputies who just made a couple poor decisions. Had I been there and saw the condition of the bear, I feel like I would have made the same decision they did about the conditions of the bear, but knowing the Game and Fish was on the way, I would have waited for them to arrive or at least called the responding Wildlife Officer to check his estimated time of arrival and give him an update on the bear’s condition. That would have been the right thing to do. Then if he said go ahead and put the bear down, it would have been appropriate.
As it happened, Game and Fish arrived just as the Deputies came out of the woods. I can understand the Wildlife Officer’s frustration after being called by the Paris Police Department and giving them instructions to put the bear down “only” if it became a public safety issue or something changes, and then arriving to find out another Agency’s Officers took it upon themselves to go up into the woods, approach the bear and shoot it, literally seconds before they arrived. That’s not working together, and my Deputies understand that now. As I said, they are good men who just made a mistake.
Both Deputies who shot the bear and another one who was present was put on paid leave until the investigation was concluded. All three Deputies that were on scene cooperated fully with Arkansas Game and Fish Investigators. My Chief Deputy and I, as well as the two Wildlife Officers working the case, came to the same conclusion. The Deputies had no criminal intent in their actions. They were merely trying to do what they thought was right. They just went about things in the wrong way.
The reason for their suspensions without pay (three days for one and six for the other) was for failure to follow proper protocol when working with other Agencies, safety policy violations and failure to follow instructions from the Chief Deputy. Not for shooting the injured bear! (However, because of their actions we will never know if the bear could have been salvaged or not.)
We all make mistakes in life, we learn from them and go on! I have no doubt that these Officers will continue to protect and serve our Citizens and be better Officers as a result of this incident.
Again, it’s hard to get the whole story in a sound bite or without all the facts. We in Law Enforcement have to make split second decisions every day, some that can have very serious consequences. Then we are condemned by folks who don’t have all the facts, arm chair quarterbacks and often times the media.
I have a fine group of men and women working for the Logan County Sheriff’s Office, but when we make a mistake, we will admit it, fix it, and go on trying to be better in the future. I wish folks would consider being more understanding of one another, more forgiving and seek to know all the facts before they start making harsh judgement!
I believe you could post that you are going to go home and paint your barn red and there would be a hundred folks comment about how stupid or wrong you are for not painting it blue or pink or green or whatever color their barn is!!!
Everyone has a right to their own opinion, Law Enforcement is a tough job, my guys are back at work and understand now how to handle a similar situation next time it occurs. I hope this helps those who really do just want to know all the facts.
Take Care and God Bless,
Sheriff Hicks”
Dennis W. McCaslin
Dennis McCaslin has been a longtime news and sports reporter for several media outlets in the Fort Smith area. He has also been a well known radio personality and play-by-play announcer for several years prior to joining InsideFortSmith.Com. He is the voice of the ArklahomaSports High School Game of the Week. E-mail: dennis@greatplainsdigital.com
