“Sometimes, even good people do things wrong. When we do things wrong we have to accept responsibility.”
Tampa Tribune
January 29, 2016
MADIERA BEACH, Florida -- A Pinellas County deputy was arrested Friday on a charge of attempted manslaughter in connection with a December traffic stop in which he shot and wounded a handcuffed, unarmed man.
Deputy Timothy Virden was arrested Friday after it was determined he fabricated a story of the man attempting to grab the deputy’s gun during a struggle.
“The shooting was not justified under law or agency policy,” said Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, who added that investigations into the incident showed evidence did not support Virden’s story.
The man who was shot, 26-year-old Dylon Tompkin-Holmes, was struck twice while he was unarmed and handcuffed behind his back, Gualtieri said a news conference Friday.
Tompkins-Holmes was not a threat and “offered no active resistance, and never touched the deputy’s gun,” Gualtieri said.
Gualtieri said Virden has been fired.
“I believe that Tim Verden is a good man and a deputy who dedicated his professional life to law enforcement, and by all accounts up to this point had an excellent performance record,” the sheriff said. “However, sometimes, even good people do things wrong. When we do things wrong we have to accept responibility.”
The incident occurred after Virden stopped a woman at 3:05 a.m. Dec. 30 in Madiera Beach on suspicion of DUI. Tompkins-Holmes, a passenger, was detained after he became angry and attempted to interfere in a sobriety test, the sheriff’s office said at the time.
At the time, the sheriff’s office said Tompkins-Holmes attempted to grab the gun, but Virden secured the gun and fired.
Virden was booked at the county jail Friday morning and released on bond.
2 comments:
Some folks are just not cut out for the job.
It is very, very difficult to justify shooting a handcuffed man who you know is not armed. Maybe not impossible, but very difficult indeed.
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