WWL.com
Reporting
The
Northshore police officer in the middle of the football referee dispute has
filed for retirement from the Covington Police Department.
It
comes a day after Sgt. Stephen Short met with Police Chief Tim Lentz.
Lentz was beginning another investigation
into Short arresting two referees at a high school football game.
The
chief says this effectively closes the
book on the matter and any related investigations.
Covington
PD issued the following news release:
Today Chief Tim Lentz announces the
retirement of Sgt. Stephen Short. As
you may recall, Stephen Short was at the center of the controversy surrounding
the arrest of two referees at a high school football game. He appealed the discipline he received as a
result of an internal investigation, and during that process requested a list
of documents to prepare for his appeal.
One of the documents he requested was a list of recorded phone calls
made from the police department. Of
those calls requested were two phone calls Chief Lentz made to the
referees. In Stephen Short's request
for the phone calls, he listed the specific date and time (to the minute,
6:23pm and 5:20pm) the phone calls were made.
As a result of this request, Chief Lentz
placed Short on paid administrative leave while an investigation was conducted
to determine what if any policies were violated. That investigation concluded and determined
that Short had violated several polices.
As part of his due process under the Police Officer Bill of Rights,
Short was given the opportunity to defend his actions at a pre-disciplinary
hearing on May 5th. At the conclusion
of this hearing, Short was instructed to appear in Chief Lentz's Office the
following day, May 6th at 8:30am where he would be advised of Chief Lentz's
decision. Shortly after leaving Chief
Lentz's office on Monday, Stephen Short appeared in the Human Resources Office
at City Hall and filed his retirement papers.
With Short's retirement, we believe this
brings an end to the saga involving the referees and the most recent incident
with the phone calls.