An openly gay chief of police has been fired by a South Carolina mayor who was caught saying he preferred alcoholics to homosexuals.
Crystal Moore, a 20-year veteran with the Latta Police Department, was relieved of her duties as chief of police on Tuesday following seven reprimands handed down by newly elected Earl Bullard.
The chief had recently discovered during an investigation that the town's parks and recreations director Vontray Sellers had operated a city vehicle with a suspended license.
During the probe, Moore found that Bullard failed to conduct a proper background check on Sellers before giving him the job.
On Tuesday, Bullard dismissed Moore, who is the Latta's first female chief of police and has not faced disciplinary action in her two decade career.
Bullard claimed Moore conducted a background check without authorization, questioned the authority of a supervisor and contacted 'news media to help bring about disorder and disruption to the town of Latta,' among other things.
But many in the community, including city officials, are questioning whether the real motive behind the firing was retaliation or the fact he allegedly doesn't like gay people.
Council member, Jared Taylor, provided WBTW with a recording of a phone call in which the mayor makes several anti-gay remarks.
I would much rather have - and I will say this to anybody's face - somebody who drank and drank too much taking care of my child than I had somebody whose lifestyle is questionable around children,' Bullard said on the call.
'I'm not going to let two women stand up there and hold hands and let my child be aware of it, and I'm not going to see them do it with two men neither.'
Another council member, Lutherine Williams told the station of the new mayor: 'We have codes, but this mayor refuses to obey anything in that book he don't want to.'
Williams added that proper protocol would required Bullard to give Moore a verbal warning, then a written warning.
Instead, he gave her seven reprimands in one day.
'Before he was sworn in [as mayor], he said ... Crystal would not have a job,' Williams told WBTW.
Moore said Thursday she now agrees the mayor had a vendetta against her and fired her because of her sexuality.
'I can't believe that we still have no equal rights. That's the biggest issue. I've been harassed, intimidated. This is the first time it's been this public. I'd tried living a quiet decent life and do what I'm supposed to,' she said.
As well as council members, who have refused to acknowledge her termination, Latta residents were furious by the new mayor's move and showed their disapproval by protesting Moore's termination at City Hall.
'This woman has been a veteran of the department and a pillar of this community for years,' Kevin Drawhorn, a Latta resident and supporter of Moore, told WBTW.
Another support rally was planned for the chief Thursday night.
The city council, which says the mayor can only fire a police chief with their prior approval, held a special meeting on the dismissal Thursday night in which they voted for a referendum to weaken the mayor's power.
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