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New York Post
18-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Texas city fires last remaining cop one month after arrest of mayor: reports
A Texas city has been left without a police force as the last remaining cop was fired during the community's first council meeting since the arrest of its mayor, according to local reports. Lieutenant Eric Tuma was terminated from the Hawkins Police Department Monday on grounds of 'dereliction of sworn duties' and 'abandonment of post' in a split 3-2 Hawkins City Council vote that was celebrated by controversial Mayor Deborah Lynn Rushing, the reports said. 'We are excited to write policies and pass policies that follow the law of the state of Texas and that everyone has to go by that law,' Rushing said, according to KETK. Advertisement Hawkins Police Department now has zero police officers, according to local reports. KETK This was the first city council meeting since May when Rushing was arrested and booked on tampering with government records charges for allegedly secretly recording conversations with city officials and not making them available to the public, KLTV reported. Rushing allegedly secretly recorded several council members during a meet and greet for Hawkins City Council candidates on April 24, the outlet reported. Advertisement In one of those conversations, she purportedly took credit for the layoffs in the Hawkins Police Department that occurred in February — controversially leaving Tuma as the last man holding the thin blue line, KLTV reported. The mayor allegedly shared those recorded conversations with Hawkins-local internet troll Matthew Todd Eddington, 51, who has also been arrested in connection to the case. Eddington has 'a long-standing history of creating derogatory and hateful social media posts about members of the Hawkins City Council,' KTLV reported, citing court documents. Both are under investigation by the Texas Rangers, local outlets reported Advertisement In February, Rushing revoked three HPD badges citing improper hiring practices and the failure of the previous police chief to get the approval of the city council, KETK reported. Monday's was the first city council meeting since the arrest of Mayor Deborah Lynn Rushing. KETK Those officers were hired by former police chief Paul Holland who resigned on Jan. 25 shortly after Rushing attempted to disband the police department in a city council meeting, local outlet reported. That extreme measure was voted down 4-1, KETK reported. Advertisement Monday's vote shocked some members of the council and Hawkins residents. 'There's nothing in our packet for what he did wrong,' Councilmember Eric Maloy, who voted against the termination, told KLTV regarding Tuma. 'I just asked tonight during the meeting, where is the paperwork for him being written up.' 'I'm very distraught and can't believe it,' Maloy told KETK. Tuma had recently taken time off for a family emergency, but had notified both the city and the Wood County Sheriff's Office, Maloy shared with the outlets. 'It's a travesty, it's a joke,' Hawkins resident Amy Pack said, storming out of the council meeting, according to KTLV. 'I'm not gonna call 911, I'm gonna protect my home and take matters into my own hands,' Pack said.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Yahoo
TIMELINE: What is going on in the City of Hawkins?
HAWKINS, Texas (KETK) – In recent months, this East Texas town with a population of less than 1,300 people, has been rocked by resignations, calls to disband the police department and a lawsuit against the current mayor. This East Texas town relies on 1 police officer, sparking safety concerns KETK has put together a timeline of what has been going on in the City of Hawkins' government and police department in the past few years: In September, an officer with the Hawkins Police Department was put on administrative leave after a deadly shooting. Hawkins PD Chief Manfred Gilow told KETK that the shooting happened after a woman was allegedly attacking people with a machete near Hawkins High School. 'It is very hard for any officer to use deadly force,' Gilow said. The investigation was ultimately turned over to the Texas Rangers. In June, Gilow resigned as the Chief of Hawkins Police Department, a position he'd only held since 2019. Gilow said short staffing and low wages contributed to his departure. 'The fact that we are understaffed in this police department. I have two openings in the last seven months. We cannot fill them. Nobody wants to do this job anymore and sure enough, not for $15-16 an hour. Target has a $25 minimum wage,' Gilow said. 'Therefore, I think right now, it's time to make a decision.' Gilow, who was born in Berlin, Germany, gained an international audience in his time as Hawkins PD Chief thanks to a German reality TV show, Der Germinator, which documented his time with the department. In January, the Hawkins City Council approved the resignation of the city's first ever female mayor, Susan Hubbard. 'There are certain pressures on her. There are certain citizens in our communities that don't want to see the growth, the possibilities, the good things,' former Hawkins mayor pro-tem Clara Kay said. Kay, who was 21 at the time, resigned along with Hubbard. Charles Richoz took on the role of interim mayor at that time. The turnover continued two months later in February when Municipal Court Judge Kyle Waggner, Hawkins Chief of Police Guy McKee and two other police officers submitted their resignations. After Gilow's departure in 2022, McKee became the second Hawkins chief of police to resign in a span of two years. These resignations brought Hawkins PD's staff of eight officers down to five. 'It's amazing to me that there are still good cops that want to work in small towns and make it a better place and we really just need it to go back to the way it was,' Rushing said. Hawkins City Council discussed these resignations in a special council meeting where they also appointed Eric Tuma as interim chief of police and Debbie Rushing as mayor. 'I'm ready to get to work. We got some things that we need to do. I'm very excited about being able to work through some of the division and get everybody on the same page and get Hawkins back to what it was,' Rushing said after her appointment. In May, the Hawkins Police Department was again mired in controversy after a Hawkins police officer shot and killed a dog. Hawkins PD stood by the actions of the officer in a statement they issued to KETK. Later that month, Hawkins residents voiced their concerns about Hawkins PD at a packed Hawkins City Council meeting. 'It's either fix [the police department] or get rid of it because our community deserves better,' a concerned Hawkins resident told KETK. Mayor Rushing said she considered deactivating Hawkins PD but ultimately Hawkins City Council voted to start the process of finding a permanent police chief. In June, the Hawkins City Council approved Paul Holland as the new Hawkins Chief of Police. Holland, a 32-year veteran in law enforcement, was chosen over several other candidates, including former interim chief Eric Tuma. On Nov. 22, Hawkins Police Officer Dave Morris was involved in a confrontation with Hawkins resident Todd Eddington during a Hawkins City Council meeting. In video obtained by KETK, Morris is seen walking across the city council chamber and standing in front of Eddington, who was allegedly talking out of order. Tuma said Morris then moved Eddington out of the chamber after someone seemingly pushed Morris. 'If you actually look at it closely, you can kind of see his left shoulder move, like as if somebody had pushed him from behind. He turned around and Mr. Eddington was directly in his face and he pushed him back to create distance,' Tuma said. Morris was pushing Eddington out of the room when Eddington tried to stop himself by pushing against the doorway. That's when Hawkins Utility Director Michael Maberry tried to intervene between Morris and Eddington. 'Hawkins police officers are constantly violating people's rights. We had a citizen, which was me, get assaulted at a city council meeting for just trying to speak,' Eddington said. A Hawkins resident was injured in the commotion which Mayor Rushing suggested was orchestrated to provoke Eddington into putting his hands on Morris. On Jan. 14, less than a year after he was hired, Hawkins Police Chief Paul Holland sent in his resignation letter, making him the third Hawkins PD chief to step down in three years. Holland's resignation came down on the same day that Hawkins Utility Director Michael Maberry was arrested for interfering with public duties in connection to the confrontation between Officer Morris and Eddington in November. Following Holland's resignation, Rushing announced a plan to disband Hawkins PD. On Jan. 21, Hawkins City Council rejected Rushing's plan to disband Hawkins PD in a 4 to 1 vote. 'If you dissolve the police department, there's no doubt in my mind that the crime rate will increase,' former interim mayor Richoz warned. Rushing expressed her regret about the vote, saying 'I'm disappointed because I feel like we had an opportunity to do something that's never been done before which can kind of be scary for some but I was excited about it to be able to start over, start fresh.' Todd Eddington, the resident involved in the Nov. 22, 2024 confrontation at a Hawkins City Council meeting, turned himself into the Wood County Jail on Jan. 23 after he allegedly shared the cellphone number of Hawkins City Councilwoman Eleta Taylor on Facebook. Eddington runs the Crooked Wood County 'Justice' System Part III page on Facebook and was asked by Taylor to remove her cellphone number from the page before he turned himself in on two counts of obstruction or retaliation. Councilwoman Taylor's son Shahaub Tafreshinejad sued Mayor Rushing, accusing her of illegal duel-office holding by serving as the mayor and municipal judge. 'When I realized you can't be the mayor and the judge, I stopped being the judge,' Rushing said. Tafreshinejad's lawsuit also accused Rushing of trying to use her mayoral position to put herself on the City Council's agenda. Rushing fired three Hawkins PD officers in a Hawkins City Council meeting on Feb. 18. She said the officers hadn't been properly hired because they hadn't been approved by the city council. That leaves the Hawkins Police Department with just one officer, former interim chief Eric Tuma. 'I'm going to be on duty as much as I can, most likely Monday through Friday during the day. People will be able to get a hold of me if they have anything. When I'm not on duty, they'll be able to reach out to the [Wood County] sheriff's office for assistance,' Tuma said in February. In a Hawkins City Council meeting on March 3, Rushing refused to call for a vote on several motions to reinstate the three officers she fired in February. Rushing repeatedly called the motions 'out of order,' whenever they were brought to the floor. 'Every time we think something is going to get done, she finds another loop hole, she finds another reason not to, she finds something again,' Hawkins resident Amy Pack said. KETK will update this article with any new developments. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
