OCALA, Fla. —A Marion County
Sheriff's Office deputy has been suspended for two days following an internal
investigation into his handling of a possible DUI case.
A Marion County Sheriff's Office
deputy has been suspended for two days following an internal investigation into
his handling of a possible DUI case.
In the early-morning hours on
Jan. 18, Deputy Calvin Batts pulled over 26-year-old Matthew Tillander, the son
of former Ocala bar owner and City Council candidate Bobby Tillander.
The investigation was caught on
dash camera video.
"You've been drinking a
little tonight?" Batts asked.
"No, sir," Matthew
Tillander said.
"I can smell it coming off
you," Batts said.
According to court records,
when Bobby Tillander learned his son was pulled over, he called Maj. Tommy
Bibb, the leader of the special investigations unit at the Sheriff's Office.
Matthew Tillander can then be
seen answering a phone call during the middle of a field sobriety test.
"Sir, please hang up the
phone," Batts said. "I don't want anybody else coming up in this
traffic stop."
"This is (Sheriff) Chris
Blair. You want to talk to him?" Matthew Tillander said.
"I'd rather not,"
Batts said.
Batts never got on the phone,
but a few minutes later gets a call of his own.
Bibb then allegedly called
Batts and told him to hold off on an arrest until he talked with Blair. A few
minutes later, Bibb called Batts back and said the Sheriff wanted Batts to
"do what he needed to do."
Batts had already decided not
to charge Matthew Tillander and let a friend drive him home.
The sheriff's office said
questions were later raised about the situation so Blair ordered an internal
investigation. It concluded with Bibb being suspended for two days without pay
and ordered to make apologies.
"That's the reason why
Sheriff Blair himself called for an internal investigation because we want to
show transparency here and we want to show that there is no favoritism,"
said Capt. James Pogue, Sheriff's Office spokesman. "It would appear that
Maj. Bibb interfered in the investigation which may or may not have hampered
the decision making process of Deputy Batts and he was disciplined."
Batts told the Sheriff's Office
he would have arrested Matthew Tillander had he not been influence by Bibb.
There are questions as to
whether Bibb's punishment was severe enough. The president of the Florida
Fraternal Order of Police said he may call for a Florida Department of Law
Enforcement investigation.
This is not Matthew Tillander's
first run-in with the law. He currently faces felony drug and resisting arrest
with violence charges for another traffic stop in December 2013.
