By Dale Barnett
Elmore/Autauga News
Tallassee Police Chief Todd Buce disputes recent media accounts of two different incidents, and agreed to meet with the EAN recently to “set the record straight.”
In articles from other media sources, current Tallassee Mayor Johnny Hammock alleged abuse and a cover up by the department regarding the incidents.
Mayor Hammock, who will officially resign at the end of this month, implied officers acted improperly, severely beating a suspect, and tasing a handcuffed suspect without reason.
In one of the articles, Hammock also leveled accusations towards the newly appointed Chief of Police Todd Buce, of a “potential cover-up.”
This week, the EAN contacted Chief Todd Buce concerning the allegations made by Hammock in the articles, to which Buce stated he certainly wanted to provide “the truth and facts.”
Buce stated he wanted to address both incidents the mayor brought forth, first, before discussing other comments made by Mayor Hammock. The first incident, involving Tony Brown, occurred on the night of May 30 when now former officer Corporal David Salum was working patrol with a police academy cadet in training. Salum conducted a traffic stop on an SUV that had no license tag displayed. Buce advised that Salum’s body camera was activated and recording during the entire incident. Buce also advised trainees are not issued body cameras.
Salum and his trainee approached the driver side window and asked the driver, later identified as Tony Brown, about having no tag. Brown reportedly told Salum he had just acquired the vehicle.
Salum asked for Brown’s drivers license and proof of insurance. During the time that Brown was getting the requested material, Salum noticed narcotic evidence, a suspected marijuana blunt, in clear sight in the center console along with other possible paraphernalia. At this point Salum opened the car door and asked Brown to step out of the vehicle. Brown instead reportedly shoved Salum backward while putting the vehicle in drive and speeding off according to Buce.
When Brown shoved Salum it knocked his body cam off his vest, and he had to retrieve it before Salum and the trainee could rush back to their patrol car to pursue the suspect.
Salum put the body camera back on his vest prior to driving off.
Another on-duty officer responded to the pursuit, which spanned a little over five miles ending when Brown abandoned his vehicle while it was still moving, fleeing on foot. This resulted in the vehicle crashing into a mobile home on Peach Lane, knocking the home off its foundation and causing significant damage.
The mobile home was occupied with a family and several children at the time, but thankfully none of the family suffered any injuries.
Salum and the trainee took off in pursuit of the suspect through the woods. A third officer who was off duty responded to the scene as well.
Salum eventually caught up to Brown who was very combative, Buce said, refused to comply with Salum’s commands, and resisted all three officers’ attempts to take him into custody. During the foot pursuit through the woods, Salum’s body camera fell off near the spot where they attempted to apprehend Brown. The other officer involved in the vehicle pursuit had his body camera on but it was not activated.
It took all three officers to wrestle Brown to the ground so they could handcuff him, and Salum used a collapsible baton, classified as an intermediate weapon in the “Force Continuum” to gain compliance from the actively resisting suspect.
None of the other officers present had a baton on them during the arrest.
After the officers managed to get Brown into custody, the trainee went back and retrieved Salum’s body camera, which was still operating and recording, as he returned to the scene. Salum and the other officers then helped Brown into the back of a patrol car and contacted Haynes paramedics who responded to their location to assess Brown’s injuries.
Brown received some cuts on his head, but it was uncertain if these injuries occurred during the vehicle wreck, the foot pursuit, his fall into a ravine while running from police, or his altercation with officers trying to take him into custody.
A neighbor came out and filmed video of the scene at the mobile home where the officers had Brown in custody on the ground.
Haynes paramedics arrived and gave Brown temporary medical attention for his wounds and advised Brown and Officers that the injuries to Brown were consistent with being in a wreck, appeared to be superficial, and that Brown did not need to be transported to the hospital.
The scene was cleared, and Salum transported Brown back to the Tallassee Police Department for processing. Once at Tallassee Police Department headquarters, Brown complained of his head hurting, and following protocol, Salum contacted Haynes paramedics. Again, paramedics assessed Brown’s injuries and determined his injuries were only superficial and advised Officers, that Brown did not need to be transported to the hospital.
However, at Brown’s request, Salum did transport Brown to Tallassee Community Hospital, where he was treated and later released. Brown was then transported to the Elmore County jail.
Brown was charged with three felonies: possession of marijuana first, criminal mischief first, and assault on an officer, plus several misdemeanors.
Buce had his department heads review the incident and found no issues with the officers’ actions in the arrest. Buce provided a report to the city of this incident and advised there was never a complaint filed with the police department over the incident. Buce says the mayor was aware of the full incident.
Mayor Hammock stated that he was unaware of this incident until a citizen mentioned it to him the next day. Hammock said he saw the video from the body cam, even though he told a reporter for another media outlet there was no body cam videos. Hammock told the EAN he thought he could hear the sounds of many impacts, which he assumed was Brown being beaten. Hammock also claimed that he saw the neighbor’s video, which he did not see blood in the car in the wreck and that the photos from the hospital showing the injuries to Brown appear to be severe “like he was beaten.”
Salum stated he was to the side of the suspect and used his baton four or five times to his upper thighs and mid torso trying to get the suspect to the ground. Salum said he never used the baton on Brown’s head nor did any officers ever strike him on the head while wrestling wrestling him to the ground.
Buce shared that the second incident involved a call to Dispatch by a female concerning shots fired at a large party going on at West James Street on Sunday, June 19. Officer Salum arrived with another officer as backup. Buce advised both officers were wearing their body cameras, both cameras were activated and recording the entire time during this incident.
Buce stated, the officers located a person in the crowd, who identified two female suspects that had just driven up into the yard of a neighbor. The officers attempted to address the two suspects, when the owner of the property, who was standing just outside his home, started yelling at the officers to get off his property.
The homeowner was identified as Perry Jackson.
According to Buce, the officers proceeded to talk with the complainant, who initially called regarding the shots fired, and the suspects, while the homeowner continued yelling at them. This caused many people from the large crowd at the party to gather around, with many of them yelling at the officers and taking video. Salum recognized the homeowner as Perry Jackson. Due to previous encounters with Jackson, Salum knew Jackson had an outstanding warrant with the City of Tallassee for Failure To Appear #7, meaning Jackson failed to appear in court seven previous times to answer for prior charges.
Salum contacted Dispatch to verify the warrant on Jackson, which the dispatcher did confirm. Salum advised his partner, who was obtaining information from the original caller, that Jackson’s warrant was active and enlisted his partner’s help in taking Jackson into custody. As Salum approached Jackson and instructed him to approach the officers, Jackson attempted to run a short distance across his yard before stopping with both officers directly behind him in pursuit.
Video shows that Jackson was compliant while being handcuffed and still holding his cell phone. Jackson was escorted to a patrol car and Salum attempted to search his pockets for weapons. During this time, Jackson continued berating the officers, while requesting members of the crowd get his cell phone. The officers attempted to get Jackson to sit down in the back of the squad car several times, but Jackson refused to comply.
Salum retrieved the taser from his partner and continued to ask Jackson to sit down in the car. Jackson, as seen in one of the social media videos posted online, slung his arms around in an attempt to throw his phone to someone in the crowd, but the phone clearly struck Salum in the forehead.
Salum was not aware at this time what had hit him and ordered Jackson to sit down in the patrol car or he would be tased. Body camera video clearly shows Salum, per policy, give Jackson several warnings and a countdown before deploying his taser. After the taser was deployed, Jackson fell back immediately against the car and then to the ground.
After a few seconds, the officers were able to assist Jackson in getting into the back seat of the patrol car.
Salum called for medical assistance from Haynes paramedics who advised they would not be available to show up due to covering other medical incidents. Salum also radioed for more backup to assist with the investigation and to disperse the hostile crowd.
An off-duty officer working an overtime detail, responded to the scene along with Chief Buce, who advised Salum to take Jackson to the Tallassee Community Hospital ER. Jackson received medical attention to remove the two taser hooks and a scraped knee from sliding to the ground when tased. After receiving medical treatment and while transporting Jackson to the city police department, Jackson reportedly apologized to Salum for hitting him in the head with the cell phone. Jackson was later transported to the Elmore County Jail due to the outstanding warrant and a harassment charge for striking Salum with his cell phone.
All of this was captured on officer’s body cameras as well as multiple citizens who recorded this incident with their cellular phones.
Since establishing new policies and procedures and since a taser was utilized in the apprehension of a wanted suspect, Chief Buce met with his three department heads on Monday morning and asked them to review the incident and determine if Salum had violated any rules, policies or laws.
The department heads reviewed all the body camera video from both officers, both officer’s statements, along with all the social media videos posted during their internal investigation. Buce also issued a press release of the incident on Monday and sent a full report to the Mayor, but never received any formal call from Hammock. Buce said since the incident was still under investigation, and Salum had done nothing egregious, he allowed Salum to work his normal shift that Monday evening without incident.
On Tuesday, Buce said he met with his department heads, and they determined that Salum violated a departmental rule by using his taser too soon. They advised Salum could have utilized more controlled physical force to get Jackson into the car or attempted to de-escalate the situation further with Jackson so he might comply getting in the vehicle.
After exhausting these options first, using the taser would be a last resort. Buce stated it would be a difficult decision for any officer to make in the moment, with a large hostile crowd at their back in an environment where officers already knew firearms were present.
After considering all the factors, Buce said he intended to suspend Salum from duty for half of a pay period, which would cost Salum more than just half of his paycheck. Disciplinary actions would also forfeit Salum’s eligibility for promotion, until 2023. Buce also intended to require Salum to attend de-escalation training and be cleared by a psychologist before returning to duty.
Buce said Salum had been a good officer, and the department and the city had invested time and money in him becoming an officer with the department. Salum stated he respectfully disagreed with the findings and did submit a rebuttal stating he used as much of the empty hands technique as possible to get the suspect in the vehicle. He said considering the hostile crowd surrounding them, he felt he was proper in warning the suspect and then stepped away from Jackson before firing the taser.
Mayor Hammock stated to the EAN that he saw the body cam videos of the officers even though he previously stated to other media that the officers were not wearing body cams or had them turned off. Hammock also said he saw the videos on social media and the suspect did not appear to be doing anything wrong and Salum just fired the taser at point blank range and the taser hooks had to be cut out of Jackson at the hospital. Salum states he gave the suspect a clear warning that he would be tased if he did not comply and backed away from the suspect before firing.
Salum previously worked at the Montgomery Police Department and had been with Tallassee less than a year and thus still considered a probationary status employee.
Buce said Mayor Hammock called him Tuesday morning and said he wanted Salum fired immediately. Buce said he tried to explain the incident was being investigated and the actions he intended to take, but the Mayor insisted that Salum be terminated, due to his probationary status. Hammock still being Mayor, wanted him fired. With no other recourse, Buce gathered all the paperwork together, had Salum report to his office, and terminated Salum’s employment, as instructed by Mayor Hammock.
Buce said he was blown away on Wednesday when another area media quoted Hammock alleging Salum acted illegally in the taser incident with Jackson, that Salum and other officers were involved in beating a suspect, and that Buce tried to cover it up.
Buce and Salum both stated that the reporter of the articles never contacted either of them for any statements for a story. Buce said he had to verify with ALEA that a formal request for an investigation was provided by the Mayor, as stated in the article.
Buce said, once verified, he had his department gather all the reports, documents pertaining to each incident, dispatch recordings, body camera videos, and social media videos and provided the entire package to ALEA on Thursday for their investigation of any criminal acts.
Buce said the article was damaging to the department, to the officers, himself, and the city for such outrageous allegations and he now feels forced to share the truth and facts with the public.
The City Council did attempt to intervene by requesting the mayor not fire Salum but place him on administrative duties until the completion of the internal investigation, but Buce had already been forced to act. Hammock stated that Chief Buse has continued to give him conflicting stories every time he requested information. Hammock told the EAN he never had these issues with Higgins as Chief.
Hammock said he has had nothing but conflicts with this City Council and even if he only has days left before his resignation, he is going to make sure things are “done right and by the law.” Hammock stated he felt members of the Council still had a grudge against him for turning in people for violating the Paycheck Protection Program, which included some council members. Hammock said his goal was to watch out for all of Tallassee and not protect select groups. Hammock further stated that there should be more politicians like him, but he has had enough of the drama and it is time for him to get out.
Salum said he feels that he has been ambushed and denied due process because the mayor has attacked him in the media with misinformation and fired him improperly when he was doing his job a police officer. Salum stated he had a lot of pride being a servant for the citizens of Tallassee.
Mayor Hammock provided the Tallassee City Council with a letter of resignation on June 1, making June 30 his last day in office. Hammock has a history of conflicts with the City Council during his six years in office.
Former Police Chief Higgins mentioned to the media, at the time of his resignation, that the issue of politics and legal issues between the Council and the Mayor were factors in his resignation.
EAN first reported on Buce when he was officially appointed to the position as Chief on May 23 by the City Council and Mayor Hammock. Buce was named interim Chief in December 2021, after former police Chief Matthew Higgins resigned. Buce advised EAN from the moment he was appointed Interim Chief, he wanted to restructure things to manage the department more efficiently. In implementing this plan, in a matter of months, Buce created three divisions within the department, with each department head holding the rank of lieutenant. Each division would report directly to Chief Buce. He created and administered promotional tests to determine who would be the new department heads. Buce also created and administered promotional tests for the rest of the department as well, defining a standard for promotion that did not exist in past administrations.
While the Police Department and City have manuals and handbooks, Buce tasked his department heads with creating operating procedures for their respective divisions. Buce explained that this provided clarity, education, and policy to each division and more accountability for each officer.
Buce stated, “with the policy updated, it built morale, officers knew what they were accountable for handling and made the process easier for all involved.”
