Wrecker service suspension upheld

The suspension of a wrecker service from the city's rotation list was upheld Tuesday after members of the business failed to show for an appeal hearing before the city council.

Haskins Wrecker Service of Bell Buckle was suspended last month from three scheduled calls on the Shelbyville Police Department's rotation schedule and placed on probation for 30 days following an incident with officers in early December.

Deputy Chief Mike Rogers had placed the company on 30 days suspension. However, the wrecker firm had appealed that decision to acting city manager Betty Lamb, who reduced the suspension.

Members of the wrecker service told Lamb they "would not stand" for the suspension, but no employee of the firm appeared on Tuesday for the appeal they had requested.

Tempers high

Rogers explained to the council that Haskins Wrecker Service had been dispatched to an accident on North Main Street on Dec. 8 that involved four vehicles.

A new police dispatcher was in training at that time and was not familiar with the rules set up concerning sending wreckers to the scene, which limits a business from towing more than two vehicles from an accident.

However, the company had apparently planned to tow all four vehicles and Rogers called Justin Haskins, who was on his way to the scene, to tell him that the wrecker service was only allowed to take two vehicles.

Rogers said that Justin argued with him over the phone and told him that "I am coming to town and getting four cars."

The deputy chief said that when the tow drivers arrived at the accident scene, "they became argumentative, verbally abusive, cursing and threatening the officers."

Rogers told council members that the wrecker operators could have been arrested for disorderly conduct and interfering with a police officer and he took the suspension action against the tow service a week later.

Lost appeal

The wrecker company appealed that decision to Lamb, who reviewed the matter and determined that some responsibility for what happened was borne by the city due to the new dispatcher not being familiar with the rules concerning sending wreckers to accident scenes.

But Lamb also said that the wrecker operators were responsible as well because they were aware before arriving at the scene that they were only allowed to take two vehicles.

Lamb also said that she could not determine that Shelbyville officers "acted improperly during this heated discussion."

"I do understand that at any accident scene, emotions run high on all parties involved ... " Lamb wrote in a memo last month. "... but we are all professionals and we must set an example for our fellow citizens."

Rogers and other officers were prepared to tell their side of the story, backed up with recordings of radio calls and police car video from the night of the incident.

Lamb told the council that during the meeting she had with Aaron, Jerry and Justin Haskins, they admitted "getting up in the officer's face," adding that the company gets three or four scheduled calls in Shelbyville per month.

Councilman Al Stephenson, who attended the appeal meeting with Lamb and councilman Lee Roy Cunningham, said that the wrecker operators interfered with the officers trying to do their jobs, adding that one of the wrecker operators "was belligerent" during the meeting.

City attorney Ginger Shofner said that since Haskins Wrecker Service failed to appear Tuesday to make their case, the suspension of three wrecker calls would stand.