The full details of a recent story that went viral are now emerging, and are quite different from what was originally reported.
Local news outlet WALB 10 reported that an officer in full uniform was kicked out of class because his gun made the teacher uncomfortable. However that account of what took place has been wholly refuted.
After a complete review of an incident involving an off- duty officer last week on the Darton State College campus, the interim President has responded.
Hoping to clear the air about exactly what happened on the southwest Georgia campus, Pres. Richard Carvajal spoke to the Albany Herald on Wednesday.
A faculty member apparently saw someone in the hallway they didn’t recognize “dressed in khaki pants, a polo shirt and a plain black jacket.” They also noticed he was carrying a weapon and contacted Darton Public Safety for assistance.
“The individual turned out to be a student who was an off-duty commissioned police officer. The polo he was wearing had a police department insignia on it that was covered by his jacket,” Carvajal said.
When Darton Public Safety arrived on the scene, however , they were not aware of state statutes which say that a commissioned officer may carry his or her weapon on campus- -even while off-duty.
The public safety officers recognized the student as a police officer from another agency, but still removed him from class and asked that he take his weapon to his vehicle. The student-officer complied.
Carvajal issued a statement about the misunderstanding saying: “I regret this happened. We have apologized to the student… I am glad that he continues to be a valued member of our community, pursuing his degree program here at Darton.”
God job of bringing out the truth.
Good on the officer. It would have been really easy for pride to get in the way of taking the low key approach. Of course he could have his weapon in there and yeah he could have asked another agency to come out and referee the situation but he just went with it and it all worked out.