The Bozo Badge Boys Unfit To Protect A Garbage Site
Yet,another Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper submerged in scandal leaves the department. What is wrong with these "bozo badge boys", who think they are above the law However, this time, it appears the lovely taxpayers are still shelling out money for "bozo badge boy". Sgt. Leon King is accused of numerous inappropriate incidents with women. One of his alleged victims spoke out in an exclusive interview with a news station. King's employment file contains information on at least three incidents. The women worry they there are many women who haven't reported King. King is in full retirement with his pension paid, how sweet for him. "It really angers me," said Laura Serrato. When Laura Serrato now goes through a scalehouse for her trucking job, it's a nightmare. "I became white knuckled on a steering wheel and I stare straight ahead and I pray I'm not taken in back because you can't trust them anymore," she said. "I know I can't." Serrato would not allow her face to be shown during the televised interview, during which she discussed the January 2006 afternoon she met King. She was passing through a scalehouse near Memphis when King stopped her. "I was literally scared for my life, scared for my safety," she said. She said King asked a series of personal questions in a private locked room. She said he repeatedly emphasized he had a 9-millimeter and she thought he was talking about a gun. "Then it was clicking in my head that he wasn't referring to a handgun anymore, he was referring to something else," Serrato said. Then minutes after she left, she said she received a voicemail message from King. "'Hey this is sugar bear. I am going to be out here tomorrow, about 8 a.m., the same time,'" Serarrto said. "'Have your have radio because I'll be out here looking for you.'" Serrato said she reported the incident to Tennessee Highway Patrol, yet months passed and nothing was done. "There was a period of time where this was a ship without a captain," said Col. Mike Walker. Walker took the helm a few months later. "We're a proud organization, but then you'll have one who embarrasses everybody, a black sheep so to speak," Walker said. "It hurts." In June 2006, Walker issued a disciplinary report recommending suspension, a demotion and a transfer. Yet, King never served that punishment. Before the paperwork was complete, another woman filed a complaint, alleging groping and grabbing. "I could feel the butt of his gun on my body, on places on my body where I'm not supposed to be feeling it," said Margaret Cooper. Walker then recommended termination but King instead retired with a full taxpayer-funded pension. By state law, there's nothing anyone could do to stop it. "It should never have happened," Serrato said. "It was unprofessional and it was totally inappropriate, especially by a law enforcement officer who was threatening me with his badge." Serrato and Cooper are now considering filing a civil suit. When the THP reviewed the cases, their investigators said they found nothing criminal in the reports. King was briefly punished for a 1999 incident in which he was accused of using a work computer to find a woman's number and allegedly harassed her over the phone. This is just the latest trooper troubles for the Tennessee Highway Patrol. After allegations of unfair treatment and promotions in 2005, the head of the THP resigned and a complete restructuring took place. Since then, dozens of troopers have been reprimanded, resigned or been terminated. Time for a chnage within the top brass decision makers! | ||||||||||||||||
