The Fort Oglethorpe police officer investigated for wrongdoing did not violate department policy and will not be punished, City Attorney and Interim City Manager Ron Goulart said.

Goulart said he completed his investigation on Nov. 5. It involved a Sept. 20 arrest of Flintstone resident Danny L. Botts, Sr. who said Officer Keith Robertson would not allow his terminally ill sister, Diane Galloway, to use a restroom in city hall while he was held in handcuffs for having a suspended registration on his vehicle.

“I felt that perhaps there was some insensitivity to the lady’s condition,” Goulart said. “I think he will now be aware of the fact that in those situations you do have individuals that do have special needs.”

Police Chief Larry C. Black was on vacation last week, and Robertson was not immediately available for comment, Goulart said. Under a long-standing city policy, employees do not speak with the news media without prior permission from the city manager.

While Goulart said Robertson will not be disciplined, he criticized the way the incident was handled and said all officers will now undergo sensitivity training.

Carlton Stallings, president of the state Fraternal Order of Police, said he is still withholding some judgment in the case because he has yet to hear the whole story. The FOP, especially the local Baxter Shavers Lodge #99, will continue to be involved in representing the police department, he said.

Stallings has criticized the city’s handling of the case, saying it should have been conducted as an internal investigation in the police department rather than allowing Botts to air his side of the story at a public council meeting without letting the police department also publicly respond.

“We said from the beginning of this thing that if the officer made a mistake you need to correct it,” Stallings said. “However, we’ve only heard one side of the story. All we know is Mr. Goulart’s side of the story.”

Botts said he knew his vehicle had a suspended registration but it was because of a misunderstanding with his insurance company. The shift supervisor at the time said he had to be arrested for the offense, but Goulart said the law leaves that decision to the officer’s discretion.

Freddie Roden, president of the local FOP lodge and a local law enforcement officer, said that while the law does not require an arrest, it does require that anyone who knowingly operates a vehicle with suspended registration be fingerprinted.

That process takes place at the county jail. Botts was at city hall at the time, and Roden said usual practice is to arrest someone in that situation anyhow.

Also, his vehicle by law had to be removed from the roadway, Roden said.

Botts said the charge was later dropped and replaced with one of having an expired tag – a much lesser offense, and one he attributed to complications that arose from the insurance mix-up.

Goulart said “poor judgment all the way up and down the line” was apparent in the case. Police discovered the same day of Botts’ arrest that one of their own cars was listed as having a suspended registration because the vehicle identification numbers for years did not match up with the paperwork on file with state officials, he said.

Botts has said Robertson told his sister she could go to a restaurant down the road to use the bathroom, which she was unable to do because of her condition. However, Roden said the officer followed correct police procedures and did not attempt to restrain Galloway from going where she wished.

“He couldn’t leave this person (Botts) in custody to facilitate her,” he said. “The lady wasn’t mistreated.”

Family members said Galloway was feeling ill from her cancer treatments and was not immediately available for comment. Botts was also out of town last week, they said.

Second officer cleared

In a separate case, Goulart said he had also completed an investigation involving Harvey Hogue. Officer Tammy Higgins cited him about two weeks ago for not wearing his seat belt, but he said he in fact had it on.

Hogue filed a complaint against the department, but said police officials would not sign a document he presented saying they had heard his complaint.

Goulart said the details of Hogue’s seat belt case will be decided in court, but Higgins appears to have handled the incident properly.

“She followed policy as far as what she did,” he said. “They were both very cordial, no raised voices.”

The case became public knowledge after a memo from Black surfaced in which he criticized Mayor Judd Burkhart and Council Member Louis Hamm for siding with Hogue.

Both men said they signed an acknowledgement that they had heard Hogue’s complaint, but Black’s memo says they signed a petition asking for the police department to stop harassing citizens.