Deputy Fired After Abuse Allegations
HENDERSON COUNTY, Tenn.- Henderson County Sheriff Brian Duke fired Deputy Heath Delaney after an internal investigation revealed several department policies were broken in an arrest made by the deputy. Delaney was suspended after a complaint accused the officer of using unnecessary force during an arrest on April 1. Sheriff Duke said the investigation is not just departmental. The Sheriff’s office has paralleled their internal investigation with the district attorney’s office who are also looking at the officer’s actions from a criminal standpoint. “During the course of the investigation we found some policy infractions that we decided to go ahead and terminate his employment on,”said Sheriff Brian Duke, Henderson County Sheriff’s Office. During their investigation, Delaney was subsequently fired for unnecessary force, failure to treat all members with civility and respect, conduct of an unbecoming officer and failure to use mandatory audio recording while making the arrest. “That means he intended probably to do that then, if he didn’t have his recorder on,” said resident Tim Huey.”You hear on the news about stuff like this happening, but never in a small town like this. I mean. everybody knows everybody and for something like this to happen it’s just a shame.” Duke said the alleged victim had obvious injuries after he was booked into jail. Investigators would not go into detail about the extent of the inmate’s injuries but did admit it was enough to take him to the hospital for medical treatment. “The mug shot did cause some concern and that’s part of the investigation,” said Sheriff Duke. ” Delaney has been in trouble with the department in the past. WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News investigated the former deputy’s personnel file which showed write ups for falling asleep on the job and failure to treat all members with civility and respect. “The public hold us to a higher standard, the courts hold us to a higher standard and I do, too. Being an officer of the court it’s part of my job to make sure these standards are strict standards and that they are obeyed,” said Sheriff Duke.”It’s hard receiving a complaint on a fellow employee, but it’s our duty to investigate every complaint that is filed” Sheriff Duke said once their investigation is complete, all evidence will be turned over to the district attorney’s office.
