Two former Soddy Daisy officers claim they were wrongfully fired after providing evidence of a co-worker’s allegedly unreliable conduct. They have now filed suit in federal court against the city and the officers.
Jake Elrod and Eric Jenkins filed suit Friday against the city of Soddy-Daisy, City Manager Burt Johnson, Police Chief Billy Petty and former Police Chief Mike Sneed.
After testifying about Sergeant Jeremy Wright on April 30, Elrod and Jenkins were immediately placed on paid leave and fired on July 31.
They are seeking wages and benefits, $1 million in damages each, and a permanent court-ordered injunction that would require the City of Soddy-Daisy to properly document investigations.
Both officers testified during a hearing in the case of Justin Whaley, 43. The former Hamilton County paramedic was convicted of vehicular manslaughter.
Wright was the lead investigator and arresting officer in the Whaley case.
Lee Davis, Whaley’s attorney, argued that a jury may have found Wright to be an unreliable witness after new information about his character came to light. Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Boyd Patterson ultimately ordered a retrial of Whaley on charges of intoxicated manslaughter and driving under the influence, based in part on the testimony of Elrod and Jenkins.
The city of Soddy-Daisy believes the firings of Elrod and Jenkins were justified and intends to vigorously defend itself against the lawsuit, Johnson said via email; Johnson was responding to a group email that was also sent to Wright, Sneed and Petty.
(READ MORE: Possible ‘special treatment’ for suspect in fatal crash on Highway 111)
FIRST INVESTIGATION
In February 2023, Jenkins received information that a Soddy-Daisy resident had filed a complaint against Wright for allegedly having inappropriate relationships with minors, the complaint states.
Elrod and Jenkins forwarded the complaint to former Police Chief Sneed, who instructed them to interview the person who filed the complaint.
The person corroborated the complaint and the case was forwarded to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office for criminal investigation, the complaint states.
“Neither Deputy Chief Sneed Petty nor the Soddy-Daisy Police Department took any administrative or employment action against Wright and permitted him to continue to patrol the streets and perform the duties of a law enforcement officer, which included access to minors and local schools in the Soddy-Daisy community,” the complaint states.
A detective with the sheriff’s office has launched a criminal investigation into Wright, the complaint states.
The investigator allegedly discovered that Wright had an intimate relationship with the person who filed the complaint against him and found “alarming” text messages describing Wright’s sexual fantasies about engaging in sexual acts with minors, the complaint states.
“The content of the text messages is perverse, grotesque and contains sexually explicit descriptions of sexual acts with minors,” the complaint states.
Wright’s text messages allegedly raised questions about whether Wright merely fantasized about sexual acts with children or whether he actually committed them, the indictment says.
The detective also discovered that Wright had allegedly sent explicit images to the person who filed the complaint.
Although the investigator was concerned that an officer would send such text messages, it is not a crime for two consenting adults to fantasize about having sex with a minor, the complaint states.
SECOND INVESTIGATION
Three months later, Elrod was allegedly informed of another incident involving Wright, the complaint states.
Wright is said to have shown a partially nude photo of himself to a woman and her underage cousin at a local Planet Fitness gym.
Sneed instructed Elrod to investigate the complaint and interview both the woman and the girl, the complaint says.
The adult woman allegedly told Elrod that Wright showed her and her underage cousin before and after photos of his body because he had been training and losing weight for an upcoming boxing match, the indictment says.
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“The adult female reporting also advised that she and her minor cousin did not want to see Wright’s penis and therefore left Planet Fitness,” the complaint states. “The adult female reporting was hesitant to report the matter at the time because she had been sexually assaulted before and did not believe the Soddy-Daisy Police Department would take action on the allegation.”
Elrod shared the information with Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp, and both agreed that there was no clearly identifiable criminal charge against Wright, the lawsuit says.
Since this was the second allegation against Wright involving a minor, Elrod continued his investigation.
“When he contacted the reporting adult female again, she stated that she did not wish to pursue the matter further because Captain Petty was friends with Wright and would do anything to protect him,” the complaint states.
Elrod questioned Wright about the allegations and he allegedly admitted to showing the two women non-nude progress photos.
Wright denied having photos of his penis on his phone, the complaint says.
After the interview, Wright reportedly went to Jenkins’ office and admitted that he had lied to Elrod.
“He also told Lt. Jenkins, ‘What Jake (Lt. Elrod) doesn’t know is that there was another picture and it showed my penis,'” the complaint states.
Jenkins then shared the information with Elrod and both went to the boss.
Wright allegedly returned to Jenkins’ office at another time and said, “Dude, why did you rat me out?” the lawsuit says.
THE RESULTS
By July 2023, Elrod will have completed the written report of his investigation findings, the complaint states.
He concluded that Wright may have violated an “out-of-work conduct” policy and allegedly lied during the investigation.
Elrod discovered that Wright had been informed by the person who filed the original complaint about her previous sexual experiences with minors, the complaint states.
Instead of reporting the incident, which Wright was required to do under state law, he allegedly became sexually aroused and called the woman “happy,” the lawsuit says.
Elrod submitted his report to Sneed on July 6, 2023.
Apparently he never heard from Sneed again.
Sneed, Johnson and Petty took no action against Wright and allowed him to continue patrolling, responding to calls, having contact with minors and attending local schools in Soddy-Daisy Township, the complaint states.
(READ MORE: Former Hamilton County reserve deputy sentenced to 9 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter)
The process
Subpoenas were issued in the fall for Whaley’s involuntary manslaughter trial, the lawsuit says.
Jenkins and Wright were both scheduled to testify.
All parties who had knowledge of the investigation into Wright’s conduct were legally required to disclose that information before trial, the lawsuit states.
“Because Wright lied to Lt. Elrod, his falsity could have been impeachment evidence that could have been used in Wright’s trial,” the complaint states.
Elrod approached Sneed several times in September 2023 to request that he disclose his investigative report to the prosecutor’s office, but Sneed reportedly refused.
In addition, Wright’s personnel file did not include a copy of Elrod’s report or any other findings, the complaint states.
Through a public records request, the Chattanooga Times Free Press obtained a copy of Wright’s personnel file in May, but Elrod’s report was not part of the file.
Elrod and Jenkins both say they were intimidated by prosecution and the prospect of losing their jobs, which is why they did not share their findings with the district attorney before Whaley’s trial in October.
However, they continued to feel that it was their duty to do so, the complaint states.
In March, both officers appeared before Wamp and handed over the investigation results as well as a USB stick with Wright’s text messages from the initial investigation.
Wamp was visibly upset that the information had not been shared sooner and is said to have stated that “Jeremy Wright would never testify in any of their courts again,” the lawsuit says.
The city of Soddy-Daisy subsequently fired Elrod and Jenkins for alleged policy violations, including making false statements and forgery, insubordination and conduct toward the public and other police officers, the complaint states.
Contact Sofia Saric at [email protected] or 423-757-6476.
