General
Decatur Councilman Hunter Pepper returned Monday for a City Council meeting after a three-month absence and immediately stirred up controversy when voicing his support of police in high-speed pursuits.
The controversy then led to a conflict after the meeting between some attendees and Pepper in the City Hall parking lot on a frigid night.
Pepper has been absent for all but one meeting for about the last three months. An emergency medical technician, he has been serving in disaster relief since Hurricane Helene went through Florida, Georgia and North Carolina in late September.
He said Tuesday that he is working on a temporary assignment for the federal government that he expects to last until May.
“I can’t say specifically what I am doing. I am working in the medical field for the government,” Pepper said.
Council President Jacob Ladner said state law requires a council member to attend at least one meeting every 90 days.
The previous City Council passed a resolution in February 2020 that a council member’s pay is cut $200 a meeting if he or she misses three or more scheduled meetings in a month. The only exceptions for absences are a member must be in the hospital or recovering from a hospital stay.
Ladner admitted to being unhappy with Pepper’s attendance and with the controversies he creates when he does show up.
“It is frustrating when we’re there every Monday and we’re kinda taking the lumps,” Ladner said. “He kind of comes occasionally and stirs things up, and then who knows when he will be back. I don’t have any control over him, so all we can do is care about what we can control and continue to move things forward.”
Ladner said that a council meeting is meant to be a professional meeting where they do city business.
“Whether it’s council members or anybody else disrupting that and making it what it’s not supposed to be, it is frustrating,” he said.
Councilman Carlton McMasters said council members have obligations that they must meet and, if they don’t meet the attendance requirements, a change has to be made.
“I wish things were different but, unfortunately, nothing surprises me,” McMasters said.
The controversy began when Sixth Avenue Northwest resident Stephen Hampton returned to the council meeting to get an update on his complaint about how the Police Department handled the theft of his car by three teenagers that led to a chase and wreck on Nov. 28.
“I came in about two weeks ago, and I need to see what y’all are going to do about the high-speed chases,” Hampton told the council.
“If people would stop running from the police, we wouldn’t have that problem — that’s my suggestion,” Pepper responded.
Hampton accused Pepper of “running your mouth when you wasn’t over there.”
Several people began yelling at Pepper from the audience while Ladner tried to regain control of the meeting with his gavel.
Police chases have been a source of controversy in the Decatur area since the Sept. 4, 2023, death of teenager Jaiden DeJarnett after police attempted a traffic stop on Beltline Road because his headlights were out. Decatur police said the 16-year-old from Madison County died in a wreck at the end of a 35-mile police pursuit that went through Decatur and Lawrence County during the early morning hours.
Decatur, Hartselle, Priceville and Athens police and Morgan and Lawrence county sheriffs’ deputies have all been involved in chases in which speeds were over 100 mph in the last six months.
The U.S. Department of Justice commissioned a study on police pursuits, the results of which were released in September 2023.
Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, which compiled the study, writes in his report that police chases “are high-risk events that put the lives of officers, suspects, and the public at risk. Furthermore, the costs of property damage and litigation can be substantial.”
Wexler also points out that “when pursuits go wrong and innocent, uninvolved people are injured or killed, public trust in the police is undermined.”
However, Wexler writes that “some view police pursuits as a necessary tool for stopping and apprehending dangerous criminals who threaten our communities.”
The report concludes that “pursuits should take place only when two very specific standards are met: (1) A violent crime has been committed and (2) the suspect poses an imminent threat to commit another violent crime.”
Pepper said Tuesday he felt he had to speak out about his stance on police chases “because I am afraid we have council members who will want to enact an ordinance or policy that does not allow police chases, which would make this a lawless community.”
Pepper said “I will fight tooth and nail” against any attempt to end police pursuits.
“I will reach out to the state and federal delegations to make sure there are laws that prevent individuals like ourselves from creating laws that prevent the police from doing their job. Police chases are part of the job,” he said.
Pepper said it is the individuals who attempt to elude the police, not the police themselves, who are creating the danger.
“That means they’re probably already a danger to the public, and I would assume the police would not chase without good reason,” Pepper said.
After the meeting, DeJarnett’s grandfather, Larry DeJarnett Sr., met Pepper at the steps to the council dais for a heated conversation.
Pepper said DeJarnett Sr. was obviously upset but the conversation was respectful. He said he told the grandfather that, if police have a legitimate reason to make a traffic stop, then the driver becomes automatically guilty by running.
“I can’t blame him for being upset and I sympathize with him. He lost his grandson,” Pepper said. “He tried to defend his grandson as not being a criminal, but I told him I strongly disagree with him. The very minute you run from the police you are guilty — there’s no if, ands or buts about it.”
The conversation between Pepper and DeJarnett Sr. ended when City Clerk Stephanie Simon declared the council chambers closed and told everyone to leave. The exit was orderly, but about a half dozen people angrily confronted Pepper in the parking lot as he tried to drive off.
One man was cursing him while a woman stood in front of his car trying to stop him from leaving.
“I continued to slowly press on the gas and the young lady chose to move out of the way when I picked up my phone to call (police) dispatch,” Pepper said.
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