Posted on 04/06/2012 8:36:26 AM PDT by dennisw
Lantana town officials took swift action in firing Police Chief Jeff Tyson less than 24 hours after his arrest in Boca Raton on charges of drunken driving and hit-and-run.
In the termination letter, Town Manager Michael Bornstein said Tyson violated at least five departmental rules, with behavior "unbecoming of a town employee either on or off duty, which would bring discredit or interfere with the town service."
Tyson, 51, was driving an unmarked police car northbound on Military Trail around 1 p.m. Wednesday when he crashed into the unmarked car of a Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office deputy, who stopped in front of him at the traffic light at Spanish River Boulevard, according to Boca Raton police.
Tyson drove off, police said, but eventually stopped after the deputy followed with his emergency lights on. Breath tests showed Tyson's blood alcohol level at nearly three times the legal amount to drive.
By 11 a.m. Thursday, town officials had fired him, said Commander Sean Scheller, who has temporarily replaced Tyson as police chief.
The move ends Tyson's brief stint less than two years as Lantana's top cop. The New Jersey native joined the department in 1999 after serving with Delray Beach and Palm Beach Shores police departments and the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, state records show.
He started as a patrol officer and rose through the ranks to captain before he was named Lantana police chief in 2010.
Tyson, who lives in Palm Beach, also is a state-licensed private investigator. State records list him as a past president of the Palladium Group, a private-investigation firm in West Palm Beach.
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.orlandosentinel.com ...
blame DEMON RUM!!!!! He would still be chief if he had a medical marijuana card!!
Good. The guy shouldn’t be allowed to even get in a car.... let alone be in charge of anyone
It seems that when you get drunk and crash into another car at a traffic light, there is a 50/50 chance that other car is an unmarked squad.
As I always told my kids. Just because you give a guy a badge and a gun, it doesn’t make him any more noble or principled than anybody else. No matter what erroneous myths were propagated upon us in our youths.
He should have been smart enough to get a job in a larger California city. He’d get a bonus for “stress” and a new, high end, unmarked car.
Reminds me of that Beatles song, A Day in the Life:
“Now we know how many DUI’s it takes to fire the Lantana police chief...
Poor guy just lost lifes lottery by not being related to Emperor Nero Narcissus.
(or being a Kennedy)
Three times the legal limit by 1pm on a Wednesday!
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