Piedmont officer is fired over public urination ticket

[Silent_Bob]

http://newsok.com/piedmont-officer-is-fired-over-public-urination-ticket/article/3730380?custom_click=rss&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

PIEDMONT — A police officer who wrote a $2,500 ticket to a mother on a public urination complaint against her 3-year-old son has been fired, City Manager Jim Crosby said Tuesday.

Crosby said he fired officer Ken Qualls on Friday, following a hearing Nov. 14.

Prosecutors at the Canadian County district attorney's office declined to pursue the case against the mother, Crosby said.

Police Chief Alex Oblein said the ticket was written to the mother for public urination, and the complaint was amended to contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Crosby said Piedmont City Council members received emails about the ticket from as far away as Canada, England and Australia.

"Of course we did receive a lot of notoriety over that," he said.

Qualls plans to appeal the decision, Crosby said. A hearing will be scheduled before a Piedmont personnel board.

Ken Qualls is 45 years old. Qualls has been in Piedmont over a year and has about 18 years experience in law enforcement, said Police Chief Alex Oblein.

Qualls' attorney Jarrod Leaman said Qualls is a member of the Oklahoma Police Pension and Retirement System and is looking at options to appeal his termination in Piedmont. A hearing has not been set.

Qualls issued the ticket Nov. 4 to Ashley Warden after he saw her son, Dillan, drop his pants in the front yard of the family home at 4505 Ryan Drive.

Crosby said Qualls didn't see the boy urinate in the yard, but reported seeing a teenager in the Warden family lead the boy to a spot in the yard.

Oblein said the ticket given to the mother did not fit the situation. It could have resulted in a fine of up to $2,500, he said.

[Jim Johnson]

You know what Qualls?  You a dumb son of a bitch...  an I only say that cause I know your Mama beat you for peeing in the wrong place when you were 3 years old.  And then when you're 45 you thought you could get back at someone like your mother for the terrible bitchy things your mother did to you. 

I feel really bad for the things that have happened to you and how, because of your job, they affect other people.