In just a little more than 48 hours law and order may have taken a major hit in the small Sequoyah County town of Vian, as the chief of police tendered his resignation in support of a female police officer who resigned rather than be fired after arresting the son of a city council member.
Police chief Ted Johnson, who signed off on the initial arrest report filed by officer Lindsey Green and publicly stated she had done nothing wrong in the arrest had expressed his support for the town’s first female officer when she announced her resignation.
“I support her and all of my officers 100 percent,” said Johnson. “I will work through Monday, but that’s it.”
Incredibly, the city of Vian and City Attorney Larry Vickers told area media outlets that Green and Johnson would be “investigated” to see if there was any “wrongdoing” by either officer.
Green, who had previously been employed by the Adair County Sheriff’s office, was the first ever full time female officer for the Vian Police Department when she was hired back in December.
The four-month stint at Vian followed a successful career as a deputy for Adair County and a previous stop at another department as a reserve office.
“I took an oath of office,” said Green. “I won’t work for a city where the city attorney is allowed to dictate who the police can and cannot arrest.”
‘It’s a matter of integrity,” said Green. “They said I didn’t have probable cause, even though I mae the stopped based on what another officer told me. I doubt that ‘probable cause’ would have been the issue had he not been the son of a city council member.
After being tipped by a fellow officer last week that Joshua Smith, who had been cited for the same thing in November before Green joined the police department, was driving on a suspended license Green instigated a traffic stop after the driver failed to use his turn signal properly and crossed the center line.
When Green asked for his license, he replied he “didn’t have it with him” and was placed under arrest for driving on a suspended license.
“At that time he informed me that his dad was a council member,” Green confirmed on Wednesday. “I replied that the law’s for everybody and it doesn’t matter to me who your dad is.”
In a telephone conversation earlier today, Green said that city officials, mainly the mayor and the city attorney, had basically interfered in official police business.
Vickers “yelled at her” after she had booked Smith into jail. Vickers was questioning Green’s “probable cause” for the traffic stop.
Within a few minutes Mayor Dennis Fletcher showed up at city hall and demanded that Smith be released from custody. He was in jail approximately 15 minutes before the mayor arrived.
Vickers later dropped all charges against Smith and Green says she was told the city council was going to fire her in the wake of the traffic arrest.
“I was informed that the city council was going to go into an executive session on Monday for the sole purpose of firing me,” said Green. “I didn’t want a firing on my record so I just went ahead and resigned.”
“I love being a police officer and take seriously the responsibility of applying the law equally to all people in all situations,” said Green. “The police can’t be ignoring the law and not doing the right thing because of someones last name.
Vickers told the an area media outlet that he dropped all charges because the only reason Green stopped Smith was because she was told to do so by another officer.
Numerous calls to Vickers’ Vian law office went straight ao an automated voice system that would not allow the caller to leave a callback number or message.
Calls to the mayor were referred to Vickers.
Is there a gofundme for these officers?