[Spartacus]

[SIZE=24px]Piedmont officer is fired over public urination ticket[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14px]Piedmont city officials have fired a police officer who wrote a public urination citation to the mother of a 3-year-old who dropped his pants in the family's front yard.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=16px]PIEDMONT[/SIZE][SIZE=16px] — A police officer who wrote a $2,500 ticket to a mother on a public urination complaint against her 3-year-old son has been fired, City Manager Jim Crosby said Tuesday.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16px]Crosby said he fired officer Ken Qualls on Friday, following a hearing Nov. 14.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px]Prosecutors at the Canadian County district attorney's office declined to pursue the case against the mother, Crosby said.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16px]Police Chief Alex Oblein said the ticket was written to the mother for public urination, and the complaint was amended to contributing to the delinquency of a minor.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16px]Crosby said Piedmont City Council members received emails about the ticket from as far away as Canada, England and Australia.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16px]“Of course we did receive a lot of notoriety over that,” he said.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16px]Qualls plans to appeal the decision, Crosby said. A hearing will be scheduled before a Piedmont personnel board.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16px]Ken Qualls is 45 years old. Qualls has been in Piedmont over a year and has about 18 years experience in law enforcement, said Police Chief Alex Oblein.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16px]Qualls' attorney Jarrod Leaman said Qualls is a member of the Oklahoma Police Pension and Retirement System and is looking at options to appeal his termination in Piedmont. A hearing has not been set.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16px]Qualls issued the ticket Nov. 4 to Ashley Warden after he saw her son, Dillan, drop his pants in the front yard of the family home at 4505 Ryan Drive.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16px]Crosby said Qualls didn't see the boy urinate in the yard, but reported seeing a teenager in the Warden family lead the boy to a spot in the yard.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16px]Oblein said the ticket given to the mother did not fit the situation. It could have resulted in a fine of up to $2,500, he said.[/SIZE]

Good thing he did not apply handcuffs to the baby.