Picayune Police officer dismissed for off duty conduct

On June 23rd at around 4:10pm, Picayune Police were dispatched to a local quick stop. Dispatch advised the officers there were two males in the parking lot involved in an altercation. In route to the scene, dispatch notified the officers that one of the male suspects, later identified as Chandler Richardson, age 29, address given as 1300 South Beech Street, Picayune, had fled the scene. Richardson is a policeman with the Picayune Police Department and was off duty at the time of the incident.

When officers arrived at the scene, the complainant told officers that he and Richardson had become involved in an argument which escalated when Richardson charged the complainant and hit him with several glancing blows.

Richardson then got in his vehicle, and as he was backing up, hit a truck parked in the parking lot and fled the scene.

Picayune Police conducted an investigation on the case and reviewed it. Both complainants, the one assaulted and the one whose truck was hit, signed charges against Richardson for simple assault and hit and run.

Under a new law that went into effect earlier this month on July 1, 2017, if a judge determines a person may be issued a summons and a defendant is not in custody at the time, the offense charged is a bailable offense and there is no reason cause to believe that the defendant will not obey the summons.

On July 11th, after the Picayune Police Department completed their investigation, and it was turned over to court, Richardson came to the police station and was issued a summons to appear before the court on August 16th to answer to the charges.

In a statement released by Chief Bryan Dawsey and Assistant Chief Jeremy Magri, the Picayune Police Department stated that “we do not condone this type of conduct, and as a result of this conduct, Chandler Richardson is no longer an employee of this police department.”