The police chief of Hazard was fired by the city commission on Monday.
Hazard City Manager Tony Eversole confirmed the firing of police chief Darren Williams to WEKU. He says the city commission wanted to go in a different direction.
That comes as a federal lawsuit was filed last month by former Deputy Chief Jessica Cornett towards Williams, Eversole and the city.
She claims she was wrongfully retaliated against and fired after reporting excessive use of force by Williams against a Perry County citizen.
That includes confiscating her patrol vehicle and personal property from her office, placing disciplinary actions into her personnel file without notice and directing other officers to file complaints against her.
Another lawsuit from Perry County’s Dallas Campbell alleges he was wrongfully arrested by Williams after trying to submit an open records request, and charged with menacing and disorderly conduct.
That request included the names of officers at the Hazard Police Department, along with their salaries and hire dates.
Campbell filmed the altercation and uploaded it to his YouTube channel. The suit alleges the recording was deleted from Campbell’s cell phone without his consent during the arrest, though the footage was later recovered.
The charges from Campbell’s July arrest have since been dismissed.
Eversole says he’ll help supervise the Hazard Police Department as they search for a new police chief, with the department’s highest ranking official overseeing day-to-day operations.
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