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.
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The bank tellers who received the picture testified that they found no humor in the picture, but did not file a complaint. The patrol was made aware of the incident after a secretary heard about it at a community gathering.
Captain Patricia Poole, who oversees investigations as the unit director of internal affairs, said she did not personally think the firing was justified based on similar instances and that it was detrimental to the patrol. But she said the colonel had more information and was in a better position to make the decision.
Colonel Walter Wilson, the retiring head of the highway patrol who ultimately made the decision to fire Ezzell, said he was friends with Ezzell. He recounted an incident several months earlier when Ezzell, later claiming to be playing a joke, made inappropriate comments to a teenage waitress while the two were eating dinner.
"Being a parent of a 17 year old, that gave me some concern," Wilson said. "I told him that behavior should never happen again."
Ezzell's lawyers also are arguing that the rule against such conduct is unconstitutionally vague, and that Ezzell is being made an example for a department that has received bad publicity in recent years for incidents involving sexual misconduct.
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Re: Trooper photo case heard
the only other place that i have ever hearded of anything like conduct unbecoming anyone is in the united states miltary this is just another trumped up issue that shouldn't even never be allowed to be used in a state employees hearing especially when it is dealing with an employees future employment. so the man made a mistake they act as if he had committed a muder or something sure he was wrong but i personnaly do not feel that it rises to the level of termination after 19 years of good an faithful service to the taxpayers of this state As to the isue of conduct unbecoming this is just state mangers code speak for anything that they decied it is regardsless the circumstances surrounding any issue where that mangament has already predetermined that they are going to take action against an employee an they are determined to run his a-- off of his job just because they have been given the power & authority to do As i have found out from my own personal experiences they mangament in a lot of cases tend to abuse an mis use their new found powers an lord help you if you should just happen to piss on of the members of mangament for any reason for they surely tend to hold a grudge against you for the rest of your life an they never let anyone live down a honest mistake should you happen to make a mistake. in my personnal opinion they are all just a bunch of bitches with vendentas to grind. glad to be gone thank you