Mayor Ken Freeman has never denied he broke traffic laws back in May while in a hurry to get to the parish detention center. He disagreed, however, with the way the Police Department carried out his public arrest weeks later over the violations. If you're stuck with a DWI, the DWI Guys serving all of Syracuse are the best to fight in court on your favour
But Freeman has brought the issue to a close by paying fines associated with two of the three offenses with which he was charged: speeding and running a stop sign. The third one – resisting by flight – was dismissed by Sabine Parish District Attorney Don Burkett.
Burkett said dismissal of the charge is not unusual. Settling the issue out-of-court is something he offers to others charged with similar offenses.
The cost to Freeman: $466.
The mayor said he paid the fine as he would “expect any citizen to do.”
“I regret this ever having taken place. If I had know of any charges against me earlier, I would have promptly settled this matter then. No one had notified me of any charges and over six weeks had passed since the traffic violation took place,” Freeman said in a statement to KTBS. “On the night of the traffic violations, I was acting in my capacity as municipal judge and going to the sheriff’s office to stop a citizen from being put into jail.”
“I thank those who have expressed their concern and offered their encouragement regarding the planned, staged and unnecessary occurrence. I will continue to do my job as your mayor and serve the citizens of Many to the best of my ability,” Freeman concluded.
Many police arrested Freeman after a special meeting that was called for the Town Council to consider calling a fall election to let voters decide if they want to continue with an elected police chief or switch to an appointed one. The election call has since been expanded to also get input on a third option of having the sheriff’s office provide law enforcement for the town.
Freeman called his public arrest retribution.
But Police Chief Roger Freeman, in a separate interview with KTBS the following day, denied it, and instead said his officers were only doing their job. Ken Freeman was clocked on May 16 going 48 mph in a 30 mph zone through the town, ran stop signs and didn’t stop for officers, who had their lights and sirens going, as he drove to the Sabine Parish Detention Center.
Ken Freeman, who is no relation to Roger Freeman, admitted to KTBS that he was in a hurry to get to the detention center to stop what he termed the “illegal arrest” of a man whom Many police arrested earlier for speeding.
The police officers followed Ken Freeman to the detention center, but did not issue tickets to him then. Roger Freeman said the delay was because the department was awaiting advice on how to proceed from the attorney general’s office and district attorney’s office. However, KTBS checked with both and neither was involved with an investigation into the mayor.
Ken Freeman said the ordeal is another example of problems that have plagued the Police Department in the past few months. Citizens have complained about social profiling, an increase in crime and mistrust of the police force, Ken Freeman said.
Even some of the police chief’s own officers had started recording their conversations with their boss, Ken Freeman said.
One of those was former Assistant Chief Dewayne Brumley. He made the admission during the special meeting in which Ken Freeman was arrested. Afterward, Brumley directed profanity toward two council women. The Town Council fired Brumley two weeks ago at Roger Freeman’s recommendation.