[9/11/03] A Vicksburg Police officer charged with domestic violence was fired Wednesday, and an officer who was suspended and demoted after a separate incident said his punishment was too harsh.

The Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted to fire Danny McCoy, 42, of Tinsley, following his arrest last week. McCoy had been with the department for three months.

He was arrested at Delta Muffler Shop, 2401 Halls Ferry Road, after a witness called 911 and reported that he had physically struck his wife, Diane McCoy, 46. The details of that complaint have not been made public, but police have said the two were involved in a verbal dispute that escalated.

City officials did not comment on the board action.

The couple appeared together before the mayor and aldermen during a closed session. When they left, Diane McCoy appeared to be holding back tears and Danny McCoy declined comment.

“No, thank you,” Danny McCoy said.

After his arrest, Danny McCoy was released on $553 bond. First offense domestic violence is a misdemeanor charge and carries a sentence of up to six months in jail and a fine.

A former officer of the Yazoo City Police Department and, before that, the Yazoo County Sheriff’s Department, Danny McCoy had begun his employment with the department on June 3.

“Domestic violence is something we won’t tolerate,” said Chief Tommy Moffett. “We won’t tolerate it from the citizens, and we certainly won’t tolerate it from officers.”

Other action taken by the city board included firing Vicksburg Police officer Clark Duhon and suspending for three days officer Kenneth Brown. Officials would not say why those officers were disciplined.

In a separate venue, during a meeting of the Civil Service Commission, Larry Holloway, who was a VPD lieutenant, was appealing his demotion to sergeant and his 30-day suspension.

The disciplinary action, recommended by Moffett and approved by the mayor and aldermen on July 7, was triggered by an investigation into a November 2002 arrest of a juvenile accused of shoplifting at Fred’s Super Dollar Store, 3427 Halls Ferry Road.

Holloway was assisting a lower-ranked officer, Taffi Mills, when she took what city attorney Walterine Langford argued was inappropriate action toward the juvenile after he was handcuffed.

Langford and Vicksburg attorney David Sessums, who represented Holloway, showed the commissioners an arrest videotape recorded by one of the cameras that are now standard in VPD patrol cars.

Police patrolman Gevon Smith, a witness for the city who was also at the scene, said he saw Mills “slam (the juvenile’s) head up against the car.”

Moffett said that even though the tape showed Holloway watching Mills use unnecessary force with the suspect, Holloway failed in his duty to give the matter proper investigation.

Sessums argued that it was unclear from the video whether the suspect’s head hit the car when Mills pushed him toward it.

“Officers have got to take charge of a prisoner, even if they’re in handcuffs,” he said, arguing that the case was clearly one of “micromanagement” by Moffett.

Moffett said he recommended Holloway’s demotion because a pattern in Holloway’s work showed that he was “lacking in supervisory skills.”

The city argued from two other cases, one from June 2002 in which Moffett said Holloway failed to do basic investigation into a theft report at a hotel and a third, from December 2002, in which Moffett said Holloway failed to make sure investigation into a report of a possible sexual assault at Vicksburg High School.

Though the assault was later determined to be a simple assault, Langford argued Holloway’s lack of follow-through fit a pattern.

Holloway was counseled for the first episode and received a suspension for the second.

“How many times do you fail to do your duty and maintain your position?” Langford asked.

Since both attorneys agreed Holloway was claiming no religious or political reasons for the city’s discipline of him, commission chairman Joe Graham said the three-member panel would consider only whether the action was taken in good faith and for good cause. The commission will rule on the matter within the required 10 days, Graham said.

Action against Mills, who is out of the country with Operation Iraqi Freedom, is pending, Moffett said.

In other business, the commission voted to make available the appropriate records to attorneys for former police officer Gary Cooper, whose firing the commission upheld Aug. 21, and Sgt. Randy Blake, whose suspension from a related incident it has also upheld, on Aug. 29.