While there have been significant problems with law enforcement officers in Lawrence County over the past several years (eleven of which we’ve covered Lawrence with close scrutiny), in the past couple of years, a lot of that has tamed down. Even overly-sensitive Dennis York had toned down his brutality methods (although one outburst, which could reasonably be blamed on his underage daughter birthing a child with a man significantly older than she…and a criminal to boot, ultimately cost him his job not long ago).
However, the “new breed” of pissant cops, in which Lawrence seemed to have been a microcosm a decade ago, is coming upon the citizenry all across America—one not noted for high intellect, definitely noted for knee-jerk reactions, and generally lacking in the common sense department.
Unfortunately, that’s what befell a Bridgeport business owner here back in July. And that’s what the subject of our noontime Read the Lead is for you today. Here now is Deputy assails elderly man, a front-pager that has Lawrence County duly abuzz.
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LAWRENCE CO.—A Lawrence County deputy has followed the path of violent and insecure officers preceding him by turning a situation around on a 73-year-old Bridgeport resident who was actually only lending a hand…and which ultimately lead to charges and an arrest of the resident.
Jay D. Wirth, 73, owner of Jay’s Tavern and the Hilltop in Bridgeport, was the latest victim of the room-temperature IQ it appears is desirable these days for most new law enforcement personnel.
The most recent run-in was courtesy of one of the more recent hires to the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department, young Nick Earnst, 21.
And as a result of the situation Earnst’s confusion about how to conduct himself on the job, it’s highly possible that the county could be facing yet another lawsuit the likes of which has plagued Lawrence since the days of the former sheriff Steve Chansler, when people got fed up with being brutalized or victimized by trumped-up charges and began appealing to the federal court system to rectify the very serious problem Lawrence continues to have with its deputies and other officers of the law.
Closing after Luau
The incident in question, according to public documents, occurred in the early morning hours of Sunday, July 27, 2014, when Jay’s, located in downtown Bridgeport, was within about a half-hour of closing (1:30 a.m.) after their annual Luau Party.
At that point in time, Deputy Earnst was reported parked aslant in front of the car wash that sits across the street from the tavern, so Wirth’s wife, city alderwoman Robin Wirth, went out to see if there was something Earnst needed.
Earnst reportedly met her in the road, advising that he needed to talk to a Leslie Zellars, whom he claimed he’d observed walk in to the tavern.
Robin Wirth advised Earnst that he must be mistaken, as no one fitting Zellars’ description had been at the tavern all evening (Zellars, Disclosure later learned, is a rather rotund individual and this in a singular way; there would have been no way Earnst could have mistaken any of the reported five patrons in the bar for Leslie Zellars.)
Earnst is reported to have told Mrs. Wirth that he needed to talk to Zellars about a bad check charge; at about that time, Jay Wirth came out to the sidewalk to see what was happening. When Earnst explained his presence there….
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