Bartow police officer resigns, admits to directing anti-gay slur at citizen – The Ledger
BARTOW — A Bartow police officer has resigned after admitting in an internal investigation that he directed a derogatory slur toward a citizen while assisting a call for service.
Interim Chief Bryan Dorman stated in his findings that he would have fired Officer Timothy Daughtry had he not resigned Sept. 9.
While responding to a call at the George Harris Youth Shelter, Daughtry lost his composure during a shouting match with Tyron Smith, the shelter’s program manager, according to the report. Shelter administrators had called for help regarding a 12-year-old boy, with a history of unruly behavior in the shelter, who had pulled the facility’s fire alarm when there was no fire, which is a first-degree misdemeanor. Smith said he wanted the child arrested and Daughtry said that might be excessive, which led to the argument, according to the report.
“It took the action of your supervisor to separate you from the complainant in order to gain control of your investigative scene,” Dorman wrote in his report. “Even after being separated, you continued, and used a derogatory slur directly toward the complainant, specifically “f——g f—-t.
“Regardless of you recognizing the complainant as gay, you used profane language and a pejorative term directly toward someone who was asking police for assistance,” Dorman wrote.
Dorman determined that Daughtry, who had been suspended with pay Aug. 13, had violated four department policies: Conduct unbecoming an officer, discourteous or profane language, insubordination and making statements that reflect adversely on the department.
‘It’s just a term that I’ve used growing up’
In the internal affairs investigation, conducted by Detective Kenneth Fender, other officers at the scene said Smith, who is Black, had aggravated the situation by questioning why the officers weren’t arresting the youth.
Officer Dallas Haynie told Fender that Smith said if the youth had been Black, he would already have been handcuffed and in a patrol car, according to the report.
In his interview with Fender, Daughtry said Smith’s comment about the handcuffs upset him because he doesn’t believe race or color matters in any way.
“That made me upset,” he said during the interview. “I said, well that’s f—–g bullshit, you know. I said shut the f–k up. At that point, Sarge told me to be quiet and to walk away — to get in the car. And as I was walking away, I said, ‘F—–g f—–t’ and then I got in my vehicle.”
Daughtry said he didn’t know Smith personally nor had any knowledge of his sexual orientation when he made the comment.
“It’s just a term that I’ve used growing up, throughout life,” he said. “It’s no different than if I was to say ‘Well that’s gay.’ It’s not, it’s just a term for disdainment, for a particular situation.”
In his interview with Fender, Smith said he is gay and was offended by the remark. He also described himself as flamboyant, and felt Daughtry should have recognized that he is gay.
He told Fender that Daughtry was looking directly at him when he made the comment.
In a prepared statement about the resignation, Dorman said he was disappointed in Daughtry’s actions.
“To engage in an argument with a member of the community and to use an LGBTQ slur during that argument is unacceptable by anyone, especially a member of the law enforcement community,” he said. “I will not tolerate that type of behavior from any member of this organization.”
Continuing department issues
Daughtry is the third officer at Bartow Police Department to leave amid allegations of making derogatory statements. In March 2017, Christine Arribas was fired for reasons stemming from a 2016 Facebook post referencing President Barack Obama and a gorilla that had died at a zoo. The post read: “This year we lost two gorillas. One is in heaven, and one is moving out of the White House. One will be missed, one will not be.”
Arribas was terminated after State Attorney Brian Haas said he would not accept her testimony in criminal trials because of the racist comment.
In February, Michael Bennett abruptly retired amid allegations that he used a racial slur at the police station with other officers nearby. He initially was reprimanded for the incident, but resigned days later after Rev. Clayton Cowart, a civil rights activist in Winter Haven, filed a complaint about the matter.
Suzie Schottelkotte can be reached at suzie.schottelkotte@theledger.com or 863-533-9070. Follow her on Twitter @southpolkscene.