Possible Pattern of Abuse by Laurens County Sheriff Department

The following submissions are courtesy of a contributor from Spartacus Legal. He claims that be became aware of this information while he was running for Sheriff of Laurens county. The current Sheriff Bill Harrell has remained bizarrely quiet since his department was responsible for the death of David Hooks in a bungled drug raid in his home even though after a two day search no drugs were ever found. These three stories if true present some troubling news and helps to paint a picture of more widespread incompetence and systemic poor judgement that has been ongoing for a while.

Carson Knight, and Tom McCain ran unsuccessfully against Bill Harrell for Sheriff and these incidents were committed against supporters of those candidates.  Kenny Webb was the previous Sheriff who retired ten years ago after serving as Sheriff for 18 years. Webb had beaten Harrell back in 2000 and Harrell ran again when Webb retired in 2004. Harrell won after a runoff.

Could it be a case of retaliation? Harrell was a deputy under Webb but took a bold move to run against his boss and he also lost. Police retaliation is not unusual so this is certainly a distinct possibility the GBI and FBI and the State Attorney General need to consider as they investigate the murder of David Hooks.

Not that I think Harrell ever thought for a moment that the fateful raid would result in Hooks being shot, but Harrell obviously placed far more faith and confidence in Chris Brewer than was warranted. Had he spoken with former D.A. Walke maybe Harrell would not have allowed Brewer to lead this raid. Make sure and read Problems with Deputy Chris Brewer Go Back Many Years where I discovered an article from 13 years ago where then District Attorney Walke had serious reservations about taking ANY cases investigated by Brewer to court because he questioned the legitimacy of the investigations by Brewer.

Doris Barrett: Killing of Cattle

By Tom McCain 

It seems some of Mr. Barrett’s livestock got out one night. Being as close to the interstate as his business is some of them apparently got out on to I-16 and were causing quite a stir. Deputies were dispatched and either they, or Mr. Barrett and some of his folks, got the cattle into a pasture. A truck was brought to collect them and was entering the gate when gunfire erupted. Mr. Barrett’s livestock were dead.

I quote Georgia Code here.

OCGA 4-3-4, entitled Impoundment of Livestock Running at Large or Straying.
(a) It shall be the duty of the sheriff, his deputies, or any other county law enforcement officer to impound livestock found to be running at large or straying. Owners or operators of farms may also impound such livestock, provided that the livestock is kept in a suitable place and cared for properly; such owners or operators shall receive the feed and care fee allowed in Code Section 4-3- 10.
(b) If an owner or operator of a farm impounds livestock, it shall be his duty to notify the owner of such livestock immediately. If the owner of the livestock is unknown and is not determined within three days,the person who impounds the livestock shall notify the sheriff of such impoundment; and the sheriff shall transport the livestock as soon as possible to a county pound as provided for in Code Section 4-3-11. The sheriff shall then follow the procedure set out in this chapter as if he had originally impounded such livestock.

So Sheriff Harrell was either unaware of or ignored his duty as described in this law. To make it as simple as I can, the sheriff has the DUTY to keep safe any livestock found straying at large. He is required to IMPOUND them. Instead, he had them slaughtered. Nothing in OCGA 4-3-4, which describes a SPECIFIC DUTY of the sheriff, authorizes the sheriff, or his deputies, to slaughter livestock.

In the process, a colt that was in the pasture got spooked by the gunfire. This colt belonged to the person who owned the pasture. The colt wound up running into a fence pole and required surgery. Not only did Mr. Barrett lose his livestock, he paid damages for the surgery, voluntarily.
Mr. Barrett supported Kenny Webb
Mr. Barrett supported Carson Knight
Mr. Barrett supported me

The Assault on Clifford Foskey and Mark Tarpley:

Clifford Foskey was a tenant in Mark Foskey’s rental unit. Mr. Tarpley is a firefighter in East Dublin, Georgia. One evening Clifford Foskey got a few in him and he and his wife got into an argument. Clifford had a weapon. Mark Tarpley took the weapon away from him and secured it in his own home and Clifford’s wife left.

The next day a mentally challenged young lady who has temporal recognition issues called 911. She stated that a man had his wife locked in his house, had a gun and was going to kill his wife, as if it were happening at that time. LCSO SWAT responded. Mr. Tarpley tried to talk to the Sheriff and was brushed off. He finally found out from a deputy what was going on. He again approached the Sheriff and told him the weapon was secured in his own home and the wife had left. He asked the Sheriff to allow him to just knock on the door and get Foskey up. The Sheriff refused and the house was engaged. “Flash-bangs” were deployed and the door was breached.

Mr. Foskey was found in the bed, passed out. He was handcuffed and dragged into the yard, where he was left, in his underwear, for approximately 1 and one-half hours. He was ultimately released uncharged. Mr. Tarpley’s rental unit suffered extensive damages. The Sheriff refused to talk to Mr. Foskey about reparation of damages. Laurens County finally settled with Mr. Tarpley. Mr. Foskey’s 4th Amendment Rights were violated. He was never even offered an apology. Mr. Tarpley’s Constitutional Right to Property was violated.

Mr. Tarpley supported Kenny Webb
Mr. Tarpley supported Carson Knight
Mr. Tarpley supported me.

The Killing of David Hooks:

At approximately 10:40 p.m., less than 24 hours after David Hooks burglarized, the Lauren County S.O. Served a search warrant at the Hooks residence. The Knock-and-Announce warrant was served as a No- Knock. The SWAT team and assisting deputies, rolled up without lights and di not announce themselves until several seconds before breaching the back door of the residence.

Teresa Hooks, David’s wife, was upstairs in her craft room. She heard a vehicle approaching the house and looked out the window. She saw several men, dressed in camo and wearing hoods, coming down the driveway. She screamed downstairs to her husband, David, who was asleep in the bedroom, stating “David, I think the burglars are back.

David grabbed a shotgun from the corner of the bedroom and exited the bedroom just as SWAT breached the door. Seeing the weapon they opened fire, fatally wounding Mr. Hooks, who died in route to the hospital.

The Search Warrant was based on information provided by one Rodney Garrett, a self-confessed meth addict, who was the burglar of the Hooks home the previous night. The attesting officer on the search warrant application falsely swore that Mr. Garrett had turned himself in for “fear of his life”. Later investigation revealed that Mr. Garrett’s mother had called deputies to her home because she knew they had a warrant for her son. Garrett, who was facing 4 felony charges, including possession of methamphetamine, claimed the “meth” came from another vehicle that was on the Hooks property.

Mr. Hooks supported Kenny Webb
Mr. Hooks supported Carson Knight
Mr. Hooks supported me

In my view, this sequence of events, though spread out, are a clear pattern of LCSO’s patent disregard of the protections provided us by the 4th Amendment.  Sheriff Harrell has used his goon squad to exact revenge on those who supported his opposition in these 3 elections and I have other examples and witnesses. People who have expressed disapproval of this latest fiasco are currently being threatened by Chris Brewer, the LCSO’s “Drug Czar”. The threatened include former police officers and deputies.

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