Deputy fired after Cortez incident
A deputy sheriff has been fired for actions involving a chase months ago that culminated in the Cortez Bait and Seafood parking lot at the waterfront end of 119th Street.
The incident occurred at about 5:30 p.m. Sept. 18, 2007, and drew the attention of Cortezians in the normally quiet village.
Tiffany Graves, 42, was fired after a months-long internal affairs investigation by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, which has now issued a detailed report running hundreds of pages.
She was discharged for conduct unbecoming a deputy and improper display of a firearm, said MCSO spokesman David Bristow. She had worked for the sheriff for eight years.
The report notes that she had met another deputy near 75th Street and Cortez Road that night, that her actions worried him, particularly since she was armed, so when she drove off down Cortez Road he followed her and called for “just-in-case” assistance.
After a chase through several red lights he cornered her at the Cortez Bait and Seafood lot, along with a swarm of other deputies and Bradenton Beach police who had responded to the call. There she was disarmed and medical help summoned.
She apparently was on prescription medications, officers said, and they are prohibited from discussing any medical matters.
According to the initial report, one deputy had apparently threatened another, then both sped through the village. Neither Graves nor another deputy was in uniform or in patrol cars, but Deputy Brandon A. Gard, 23, as well as Graves, was armed, according to reports. |
