Ronald Ezzell Jr. | newsobserver.com projects

Judge upholds trooper firing

Submitted by bniolet on August 6, 2009 - 11:07am.

A 19-year veteran state Highway Patrol trooper will not get his job back after an incident in which he sent a state credit union teller a doctored picture with an obscene image.

An administrative court judge ruled to uphold the firing of Ronald Gene Ezzell Jr., who prior to his dismissal flew helicopters for the patrol, for the incident, Kevin Kiley reports.

Ezzell was at the drive-through of the State Employees Credit Union on Vernon Avenue in Kinston on Oct. 28, 2008, when he placed a laminated picture of a young naked boy with an enlarged penis superimposed on his body, along with identification and a check to be cashed, in the canister and sent it to a female teller. Ezzell was in uniform in a marked patrol car at the time.

The patrol dismissed Ezzell in February on the grounds that he engaged conduct unbecoming of a state employee. Ezzell challenged the firing in the state’s Office of Administrative Hearings last month.

At the hearing, Ezzell said he meant the photo as a joke, saying he told the teller that the picture was of him at his grandmother’s house as a child. Ezzell called his actions an error in judgment, but not grounds for dismissal.

Trooper photo case heard

Submitted by kkiley on July 13, 2009 - 1:39pm.

Tags: Department of Crime Control and Public Safety | Office of Administrative Hearings | Ronald Ezzell Jr. | State Highway Patrol | Under the Dome

A state trooper fired after he admitted to showing a picture of a naked boy with a large penis to a drive thru bank teller got to make his case today.

Ronald G. Ezzell Jr. of Beulaville, a helicopter pilot with the State Highway Patrol, was fired Feb. 19 for an incident in Oct. 2008 when he sent a bank teller the photo while making a transaction.

The case was heard before the Office of Administrative Hearings today, and the court will make a ruling within 75 days.

Ezzell's defense is that he intended the photo as a joke, claiming it was a picture of him at his grandmother's house as a child, and that it should be weighed against 19 years of distinguished service with the highway patrol. His lawyers read off a list of honors Ezzell received, especially his work when the West Pharmaseutical plant exploded in 2006.

"He has admitted that it was one brief moment where he exercised poor judgment," said Woody Webb, the lawyer representing Ezzell.

The department said his conduct was unbecoming of an officer — especially one in uniform in a marked highway patrol car — and that previous warnings of inappropriate conduct justified the firing.

"I can't imagine anyone that thinks the actions of trooper Ezzell were acceptable at all," said Tamara Zmuda, the assistant attorney general who represented the department.

More after the jump.

Trooper fights firing over photo

Submitted by ryanteaguebeckwith on April 27, 2009 - 11:23am.

A state trooper fired after he admitted to showing a bank teller a picture of a naked boy with a "large penis" is challenging the dismissal in state admistrative court.

Ronald G. Ezzell Jr., 43, of Beulaville, a helicopter pilot for the patrol, said the firing was unjustified and "totally disproportionate to the conduct engaged in and inconsistent with personnel actions taken by the Patrol in other cases involving far more egregious conduct," Dan Kane reports.

Ezzell also accused the patrol of releasing information protected under state personnel law.
According to personnel documents, Ezzell showed the picture on Oct. 28 while doing business at a drive-thru window of a State Employees Credit Union branch in Kinston.

He was in uniform and in a patrol car at the time. He said he showed the picture as a joke, claiming it to be a picture of him as a boy at his grandmother's house. He said he did not intend to offend anyone.

It's unclear if the photo was doctored.

More after the jump.