Chief Mercer did not deliberate. Officer Kyle Puit, she said, effective immediately. Your employment with the Garland City Police Department is terminated for cause. I am simultaneously forwarding a formal request to the state peace officer standards and training commission for permanent decertification. You will never wear a badge in this state.
She looked at him without particular emotion. The grounds are documented racial profiling, unlawful detention, falsification of incident report details, and conduct unbecoming. D.A. Webb leaned forward from his chair along the wall. Mr.
Puit, the district attorney's office has completed its preliminary criminal review. A grand jury convenes Thursday. I would encourage you to spend the next 72 hours in close consultation with your attorney. Donner put a hand on Puit's arm. Professional management, not comfort.
As Puit was escorted from the building, he walked down the corridor with the gait of a man whose body is performing a movement his mind is not directing. At the end of the corridor, he pushed through the glass door and stepped into a Tuesday afternoon that was entirely indifferent to his presence within it. Raymond remained seated for a moment after the room began to clear. Mercer waited. "The three prior complaints," Raymond said.
"The closing authorizations. Voss has already flagged them. Mercer said, "The board will review the full chain. She paused. The oversight commission chair position, the civilian board is asking.
Raymond considered this. He thought about the three people whose complaints had been dismissed, whose names he had read at 11:00 Sunday night, who had attempted to use the available mechanism for addressing what had happened to them, and had been told by the structure that Morrow administered that their experience was insufficient for action. Tell the board yes, he said.
The Garland County Courthouse, by the morning that State v. Puit was scheduled to begin jury selection, had acquired the particular atmosphere of a civic event that has outgrown its original dimensions. Satellite trucks occupied most of the plaza. Camera positions from four national news organizations flanked the wide limestone steps. A documentary crew that had been following the case for three months had established a position near the main entrance that the courthouse's security staff had negotiated down to a single stationary camera, an arrangement that satisfied no one and served everyone adequately.