By: Becky Bereiter
CHARLOTTE -- A disciplinary board is
determining the fate of a veteran Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer.
Officer Mike Tinsley is currently suspended
from the department on allegations he took advantage of his position and
misused police equipment for personal use.
On Thursday, more department heads testified to
Tinsley’s behavior. Chief Rodney Monroe is pushing for his termination on
allegations he abused his position to illegally park his personal vehicle at
the Family Life Center of First Baptist Church.
Tinsley maintains he had permission from the
church's pastor to park in the Uptown lot. Attorneys for CMPD cited an incident
in April of 2013 where he became irate with a Preferred Parking employee who
ticketed him.
"He was in my face, right at me yelling,
‘Who are you? What are you doing here? I'm a cop, who gives you the right?'”
said John Harper Jr., who issued the ticked.
The department also claims he inappropriately
dismissed traffic tickets and used police databases to run gun serial numbers
and driving records for family members and friends.
"Everyone doesn't have the opportunity to
have a friend run their license or get their tickets dismissed for them - so he
used it for his personal relationship with these people," said Major
Alfreda Lester with CMPD.
A month prior to his long term suspension on
those allegations, he was suspended for 30-days after another officer claimed
he sexually assaulted her. He was suspended on the grounds his testimony was
inconsistent with the Internal Affairs board.
He was never charged by CMPD and he denies it
ever happened. The department, however, says his track record of issues dating
back to 1999 is grounds for dismissal.
“It was just hard for us to see any other
corrective action than to separate him from our department," said Lester.
Testimony resumes Friday. The board hopes to
reach a decision by the end of the day.
It only needs a majority, not a unanimous vote,
for a decision
