March 08--BROOKSVILLE -- At least two women have gone on record stating Bryan Drinkard doesn't take break-ups well.
They accused him of harassment and showing up unannounced at ill-advised times. He's been stubborn, possessive and impulsive, they said.
Both times -- after the women went public with their allegations -- Drinkard lost his job.
Drinkard, 44, was forced to retire as a Manatee County Sheriff's deputy in 2003 after he was charged with stalking, a count on which he was later acquitted. The accuser in that case was an ex-girlfriend.
On Feb. 29, after five years with the Brooksville Police Department, he was fired for gross negligence and misconduct.
He was suspended with pay after an internal affairs investigation was opened against him following allegations he was harassing his latest ex-girlfriend, Tiffany Still, who is an administrative assistant with the department.
Drinkard was told by his bosses on several occasions to turn in his agency-issued firearm. He finally did so Feb. 28. The chief said Drinkard was drunk at the time.
Drinkard walked into an empty lobby, placed his loaded .45-cal. Glock on the counter and walked out the door. Minutes later, Still arrived at her work station and discovered the unattended firearm lying a few feet in front of her.
Brooksville Police Chief George Turner, who had disciplined Drinkard three times since last summer, decided it was time to fire him. When Drinkard told him to his face the following day he was "highly intoxicated" and "hardly remembered" turning in his weapon, Turner was certain it was the right decision, he said.
Lt. John Messer, who handled the internal investigation, said he learned from his superior that Drinkard "continued to harass (Still) by phone, followed and stalked her and her family, and without invitation, showed up at her children's school function."
Still was interviewed by Messer and she went into detail about her allegations. She also made several more.
Drinkard, who said he was never invited by Messer or anyone else in the department to argue his side, emphatically denied Still's story.
"That's positively false," he said when he was told by a reporter that Still had accused him of stalking.
Still said she had broken up with Drinkard six or seven weeks earlier, but Drinkard insisted he and Still carried on a consensual relationship during that span. He said he has documents and text messages to prove so, but he was never given an opportunity to present them to Messer.
The investigation was closed with "no definitive findings," according to the report.
Messer stated no witnesses on Drinkard's behalf came forward even after he had contacted Jimmy Brown, who is Drinkard's attorney.
Brown saw it differently.
"The police department apparently didn't think it was necessary to interview any of the witnesses we offered to provide, nor to review any of the documentary material we told them about nor to interview Brian, nor even to tell us that they had reached a conclusion," said Brown.
He also said even though the investigation was "something of career-ending importance" for his client, he thought it was handled too haphazardly.
Either way, Drinkard was fired because of the way he turned in his firearm, Turner said. The IA investigation at that point became mostly moot. The allegation wasn't even sustained.
Turner described the act of leaving his firearm unattended as "gross negligence" and stated he "placed the general public and other department members at great risk or possible injury."
Public records revealed the police department tried several times to recover Drinkard's weapon.
On Feb. 27, Drinkard was told of his suspension. At that time, his agency-issued patrol car, AR-15 rifle, shotgun and computer system were retrieved.
The following morning at 9 a.m., a Brooksville police sergeant and detective showed up at Drinkard's home to obtain his Glock and police identification. There was no answer and a notice was left at the door.
That same morning Brown was given a copy of the same notice.
Later that day, the same sergeant noticed the note was removed from the door, but Drinkard's personal vehicle was still parked in front of his home. Again, there was no answer at the door.
A captain drove by later and noticed Drinkard's vehicle was gone. He later learned Drinkard was at his attorney's home, but no contact was made then.
The captain eventually called Brown and told him his client must return the weapon or else criminal charges would be filed.
Shortly before 3:30 p.m., Drinkard walked into the lobby, wearing a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops, and turned in his weapon.
Turner, in a memorandum, described in vivid detail how Drinkard dropped off his gun.
"Officer Drinkard walks into the public access lobby ... with his issued (gun) in his right hand, finger on the trigger," he wrote. "He walks directly to the reception window area usually occupied by Tiffany Still and points the firearm in the direction of the receptionist's chair (unoccupied) and then abandons the firearm, pointed at the chair, on the public access counter."
The video shows Still returning to her desk minutes after Drinkard dropped off the gun. Both she and another administrative assistant, who is a retired Tampa Airport police officer, walked to the chief's office and told them about the unattended weapon, Turner said.
Turner recalled hearing one of the women tell him a loaded gun was left in the lobby. He was befuddled. Then she repeated herself with more clarity.
"No, it was left there," Turner said, mimicking the way she put extra emphasis on the word "left."
When Still first came forward with her allegations, she said Drinkard, who worked midnight patrol, had called her repeatedly at work even after she told him to stop. She said she changed her cell phone number because of the volume of unwanted calls and texts she kept receiving from him.
Still also saw Drinkard getting emotional one day and thought he was having suicidal thoughts, according to the IA report.
She described several more incidents to Messer, including trying to get a fellow officer to conduct surveillance on her and pressuring her to lie about it if questioned during an inquiry. She also accused Drinkard of duping her into lending him her set of keys so he could remove items from her home, appearing at her son's school as she was taking part in a parent-teacher conference, bringing her lunch at work when she didn't request it and showing up unannounced at her home.
She stated Drinkard had removed her checkbook and jewelry from her house. Messer's report revealed Drinkard returned the jewelry after Still's mother called him and threatened to report it as a theft. He returned the checkbook after Still asked for it back.
Drinkard initially denied having it, but later returned it to the police station, Messer wrote.
Copyright 2012 - Hernando Today, Brooksville, Fla.
