The past few months have been troublesome for Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill, despite his attempts to change his controversial reputation to one of a no-nonsense law enforcement officer dedicated to serving the people.
He shot a friend in the stomach Sunday evening, police said. The woman’s father said she lost a kidney as a result. Wednesday night, police investigating the shooting charged the sheriff with reckless conduct, a misdemeanor that set off a state investigation on Thursday into whether his law enforcement certification should be suspended or revoked.
And just last month Hill had the second of two accidents in a seven-week period while driving a county car, each time because he drifted out of his lane and into the next one over, according to witnesses.
“It’s been one tumultuous ride for him,” Fayette Commissioner Steve Brown said.
Commission chairman Jeff Turner described the shooting as “an unfortunate incident” and said it has “put the county into uncharted territory.”
Hill hasn’t spoken about the shooting publicly, other than posting on the sheriff’s office web site a plea for prayers for Gwenevere McCord, the woman shot. He turned himself in at the Gwinnett County Detention Center Wednesday night, posted a $2,950 bond and was released.
One of Hill’s supporters is the father of 43-year-old McCord, who remains on a ventilator at Gwinnett Medical Center, but is making progress.
“I don’t think he should be charged and, when she is able to talk, she’ll be able to give us some clarification as to what actually unfolded,” Ernest McCord said Thursday.
Ernest McCord said Thursday his daughter’s doctor told him that she had described the shooting as an accident to paramedics. Investigators said Hill told them he was practicing “police tactics.”
He called 911 just before 7 p.m. Sunday to report the shooting.
Gwinnett police officers allowed him to leave the model home on Britt Trail Drive near Lawrenceville, but on Wednesday charged him with reckless conduct. District Attorney Danny Porter told Channel 2 Action News the comments McCord made to paramedics and things the woman could be heard saying on the recorded 911 call led him to bring the charge.
On the Clayton sheriff’s department web site, Hill referred to the shooting as “tragic accident.
“I want to thank you all for your continued prayers for Gwenevere, and ask that you continue to keep her and her family lifted in prayer,” Hill wrote.
He said he would continue performing his duties.
More than 100 people responded. Some embrace the sheriff.
Accidents happen, Louis Fuqua III posted. “… My family understands that. You have done a remarkable job as sheriff. Stay strong.”
Rex resident Rosa Barbee, president of the Clayton County-based watchdog organization Georgia Active Support Group said: “People sure want to crucify him without even knowing all the facts. If they charged him with a misdemeanor that means they had some evidence. It’s just a misdemeanor, he should still be allowed to do his job.”
Some criticized him.
“We need a better sheriff,” posted Chris Rooks wrote, adding something doesn’t “add up.”
Hill’s second term as sheriff has been very different from his first, which he began by firing about two dozen deputies. They were eventually reinstated.
While sheriff, he was accused of 27 criminal charges in Clayton County, including racketeering, theft by taking, violating his oath of office, making false statements and influencing a witness. Hill was acquitted of all charges in August 2013.
The Peace Officers Standards and Training Council in March closed an investigation that it opened into Hill because of the criminal case and an ethics violation allegation made eight years ago. The council voted to take no action.
A new investigation started on Thursday, according to Ken Vance, the POST Council’s executive director.
Vance said the agency has started gathering records but that no decision about Hill’s certification will be made until the criminal case against him is resolved.
“A court sentence will help us immensely, but it won’t totally govern the outcome. POST looks at all action that got (him) there,” Vance said
If Hill’s certification is revoked, he could not remain in the office, according to the Georgia Sheriff’s Association.
“Up until Sunday night, he’s been the most low-profile sheriff in Georgia,” Vance said.
There was little public notice of two accidents Hill had while driving county cars earlier this year— on Feb. 29 and on April 17. The troopers who investigated the wrecks did not charge him, though they said he was to blame and county had to pay for the repairs.
In the first instance, Hill drifted out of his lane and sideswiped a stopped car, according to the accident report. The second crash happened when the right rear of Hill’s county-issued 2013 Camaro sideswiped the left front of another car.
According to the video recording the trooper made of the Feb. 27 accident, Hill was not there because he had one of his aides drive him to a hospital to be checked.
There were no injuries, according to the report.
But the other driver said the Sheriff’s Office employees who stayed behind seemed concerned about publicity.
The driver Tami Benifield said someone asked: “‘Do you know who he is?’ I said, ‘no.’”
She said she was told, “We got to keep this down… That was Victor Hill.”
Staff writer J. Scott Trubey contributed to this story.
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