Crime analyst fired by her police chief lover slaps lawsuit on city of Columbia

Bridget Caffery's DUI mugshot. She is suing her lover and former Police Chief Randy Scott.  (photo credit:  Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center)

Skeletons continue to burst out of the closet of the Columbia Police Department (CPD).  The State newspaper just broke the news that embattled former Police Chief Randy Scott, along with the city of Columbia, has been slapped with a lawsuit by Bridget Caffery.

Former Columbia Police Chief Randy Scott's tearful resignation.

(photo credit:  wmbfnews.com)

Caffery, 24, was a civilian employee of the CPD and served as a crime analyst under Scott before his abrupt and mysterious departure.  Later Scott explained that he was suffering from PTSD related to the death of one of his officers two years prior.  Now it seems there may have been more to it than at first met the eye.

Caffery is alleging that she had an affair with Scott and that she was wrongfully terminated.  She was arrested for DUI in December, telling officers at the scene that she wanted Scott and interim Police Chief Ruben Santiago to be informed of her arrest.

Caffery is suing, among other reasons, because she says that she was assured that she would not be in trouble, but later Scott forced her to resign or be terminated on the spot.  Besides feeling that her personal relationship with Scott should have protected her, she also alleges that there are other CPD employees with DUIs still on the job.  To make matters worse, Caffery alleges that during her affair with Scott, he placed a tracking device on her vehicle to ensure that she wasn’t seeing anyone else, a misuse of CDP equipment.

So far there has been no immediate response from Scott.  But his successor, interim Police Chief Santiago abruptly resigned Thursday, making that six Columbia police chiefs come and gone in seven years.

4-time DUI repeat offender out on bail, drives again, kills 3-year-old child

3-year-old Josiah Jenkins was killed by a 

drunk driver last week

(photo credit:  thestate.com)

Josiah Jenkins, was buried Sunday at Refuge Temple church in Columbia, SC.  The toddler was killed as a result of severe head trauma when a drunk driver plowed into the vehicle Jenkins was riding in as his mother Latoya Jenkins drove.  The inebriated driver, 44-year-old Lonnie Gross III is, of course, just fine.  The accident took place while Gross was out on bond awaiting trial for a previous DUI charge just this past November.

Horrific crash scene underscores need for stricter DUI laws

(photo credit:  wistv.com)

There were over 600 mourners at the service, many of whom did not even know young Jenkins.  But it is indicative of a community that is fed up with lenient DUI laws that have made the county jail essentially a revolving door storefront.

Repeat Drunk driver Lonnie Gross III

(photo credit:  thestate.com)

According to The State newspaper, Gross is a four-time felon (whose crime of choice is DUI) who kept being released on bond and probation.  Not only was Gross driving under the influence when the accident occurred last week, but his license was suspended.  For the fifth time, the crime is DUI, and finally the judge has shown mercy to the innocent citizens of Columbia and denied Gross bail.

Last year there was a big push for stricter DUI penalties when yet another child, 6-year-old Emma Longstreet, was killed by a repeat drunk driver.  Sen. Joel Lourie, D-Richland, introduced Emma’s law which would require first time DUI offenders to use an ignition locking device on their vehicles for a minimum of six months.  Read more about how this system would work here.

Shamefully, the bill stalled for almost a year due to partisan politics.  Now with the rash of more deaths by repeat DUI offenders in South Carolina, both sides of the house are agreeing to come together and will give the bill a hearing this Thursday.