Tuesday night’s Douglas city commission meeting featured a rather benign agenda. However, a discussion in the general comments time of the work session added a little tension to the meeting.
After commissioners handled the five items of business, Larry NeSmith addressed the commission. He wanted to discuss something that happened on October 30 on North Peterson Avenue. Just before 9 p.m., a Douglas police officer attempted to stop Roshed Carter, 44, who was allegedly driving a stolen Buick Enclave. Carter allegedly fled, traveling north on Peterson Avenue at a high rate of speed, according to the incident report. One officer performed a PIT maneuver on the vehicle, causing it to crash by the OYO Motel.
According to the incident report, Carter was uncooperative with officers after the accident. They pulled Carter from the vehicle and attempted to handcuff him. The report says that Carter was not compliant and would not allow officers to take him into custody. As a result, the report says, one officer hit Carter four or five times. Afterwards, he was handcuffed and arrested.
The accident attracted a lot of attention and several people videoed the aftermath of the accident. Some of those videos show an officer striking Carter in the face then getting up and walking away. Other officers then handcuffed him and transported him to the Coffee County Jail.
Nesmith said he wanted to discuss “what I see as unnecessary force by our police department. And the thing of it is, we actually have this one on camera,” said Nesmith. He added that he didn’t want to call this incident abusive or excessive force because he wasn’t sure of the details. “But I will say that when an individual is on the ground subdued, can’t move, can’t do anything – I don’t see where it’s necessary to be punched in the face four or five times and the officer gets up and walks away like nothing happened. I don’t think that’s necessary,” he added.
Nesmith addressed the commission for about four minutes. No one on the commission replied to Nesmith’s comments. After the meeting, Nesmith and police chief Brannen Pruette spoke for a few minutes in the meeting room.
According to the Coffee County Jail roster, Carter remains incarcerated.
Right after the incident happened, the city requested that an outside agency investigate what happened that night. The investigation is ongoing.
Former city commissioner Olivia Pearson also addressed the commission. She asked about the sidewalk and resurfacing project on Lupo Lane as well as the availability of any money from the city to help citizens in the aftermath of the storm. City Manager Charlie Davis replied, stating that the Lupo Lane project will be completed in early January. Regarding using any money the city has to help citizens, Davis stated that the city has not received any federal, state, or private funds for hurricane relief. There will be reimbursements from several different agencies but those reimbursements won’t come for another 12-18 months.
In the meantime, the city has a retained earnings fund (sometimes informally referred to as a contingency fund) that contains about $26 million that would be used in an emergency situation. Davis stated that the city is anticipating having to pay upwards of $20 million to front costs associated with electric system repairs, facility repairs, debris removal, etc., from the storm. The retained earnings fund will be used for those expenses while the city waits on its reimbursements.
Pearson also asked about a $1 million contribution that Pilgrims Pride made to assist with hurricane cleanup. Davis stated that the city did not receive that money nor does it have any say in how that money is spent. Private foundations are handling that, he said.
The commission took action on the following items:
- Awarded the Downtown Historic Resource Survey project to WLA Studios for $11,560;
- Approved an alcoholic beverage license to Cost Kutter for retail alcohol sales;
- Gave the Community Development Department approval to draft and advertise an ordinance for the Code Enforcement department. The department would like for all of its officers to not be POST-certified peace officers moving forward (currently the department has two vacancies);
- Removed specific names from the MEAG signatory card to generic titles (mayor, city manager, and utilities director);
- An amendment to the FY ’24 budget from $130,190,566 to $112,974,195. “That just reflects all the ups and downs and changes in expenditures and revenues to the overall budget,” said Davis.