Entire Bethel Springs Police Dept. off Job
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As of Wednesday the small town of Bethel Springs no longer has an active police force. The mayor suspended their only two officers this week, and now has explained why. Mayor Kay Cox said she suspended officer Bandi Burney with pay following an assault complaint filed against him for allegedly patting a woman on the shoulder during a traffic stop. Chief Peewee Sowell was suspended without pay, Wednesday because of two incidents. One of which the Mayor told 7 Eyewitness News Sowell illegally dismissed a ticket he wrote for a driver running a stop sign. She also said Sowell refused to follow her direction about adjusting officer Burney’s night schedule by one hour. “He blew a gasket…said, ‘no’! He was not going to change him to 5 to 1, that he didn’t care if I was the Mayor that he was going to run that police department the way he wanted to,” said Mayor Cox. The McNairy County Sheriff’s Department is currently patrolling Bethel Springs. At the next city meeting, scheduled for April 9, the board will vote on what action to take next with the suspensions.
