Pastor accuses Bartow police chief of lying under oath
BARTOW, Fla. - The Bartow police chief spoke out publicly for the first time about a fired officer who compared former President Barack Obama to a gorilla. Christina Arribas made the comment on her personal Facebook page.
She was not disciplined for the gorilla comment, but she was sanctioned for posting a photo of herself in her uniform on the web, which violated the department's social media policy.
"When this was originally brought to my attention, my recommendation was termination to the city manager," Hall testified under oath.
Just minutes later, his boss, Bartow City Manager George Long contradicted him.
"Did the chief suggest she should be fired?" Long was asked.
"That's not what the chief said," responded Long.
Although we may never know what happened behind closed doors, Pastor Clayton Cowart, who has been campaigning to get Hall fired, says he is convinced he knows what happened on the stand.
"I know the chief was lying, and think everyone here knows it," said Cowart.
The comments were made during an arbitration hearing for former officer Deante Broome. Broome was let go after lying to investigators about an inappropriate relationship with a 15 year-old female Explorer.
Arribas says the chief and the city manager told her should would not be fired, but it didn't turn out that way.
She plans to have an arbitration hearing just like Broome's in an attempt to get her job back.