That Seneca Police shooting keeps getting crazier

Aug 17, 2015, 7:04 PM

Two officers have now resigned from Seneca PD. Chief is being accused of protecting his son from investigations and threatening to fire anyone who did. Here's a juicy snippet from the Guardian.

Bland and Richter’s letter, which called the investigation of Hammond’s death “inadequate”, also raised questions about Seneca police chief John Covington’s 27-year-old son Adam, a former reserve officer with the Seneca police department who pled guilty to charges of theft of a controlled substance and misconduct in office on Thursday. Covington received two years probation and one year in prison with credit for time already served.

The charges stemmed from allegations that Covington stole 44 hydrocodone pills from a suspect’s purse at the Oconee County detention center after a January 2014 arrest. An investigation by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (Sled) found several incidents in which reserve officer Covington was suspected of similar misconduct.

During a 2013 burglary investigation, Covington allegedly told a colleague not to fingerprint several emptied bottles of pills because “all the officers had picked them up and touched them”. All the other officers on the scene were subsequently interviewed, and denied touching the bottles.

The Sled report depicts multiple department officials hesitant to investigate allegations against reserve officer Covington, because of his relationship to the chief. One captain is quoted as having said “this came straight from the big man that if you go forward with this it would be a career changing move”, regarding any investigation of the 2013 burglary incident.

In a separate incident, reserve officer Covington was suspected of having stolen $600 from a suspect’s vehicle. The Oconee County sheriff’s office was asked to investigate, but chief Covington rejected the investigator’s request for officers to submit to polygraph testing. “Adam can’t pass a polygraph anyways,” the chief is reported to have said.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/17/zachary-hammond-police-shooting-lawyer

flag link

military_tech

thumb_down

thumb_up

That Seneca Police shooting keeps getting crazier

Re: Does that mean these Seneca cops lose their sideline gig

If they do lose their gig

The Covington family sounds like a really swell brood.

I know a source over there. Just texted to see if there's

Re: I know a source over there. Just texted to see if there's

The more I find out about this, the more this smells

Re: They are the heroes we deserve but not the ones we need

Like a good neighbor, Seneca PD is there.***

Also made the NYT - Shooting of White Driver Gets Less

I guess the thing this article makes me ponder is what would

I don't think they thought this story would get near

Re: I don't think they thought this story would get near

TigerBoard POTD