Heated Debate at the Fort Smith Police Department

The Police Chief says he fired Sergeant Jeff Morgan for lying during an internal investigation. Morgan claims he didn’t lie, and Thursday morning he appealed his termination. A civil service commission voted to uphold Morgan’s termination from the department. Morgan’s lawyer, Kevin Holmes, says the Chief accused Morgan of lying about running personal errands for Major Jeff Barrows. The Chief also says Morgan helped Barrows with work for a college course and lied about that too. Holmes says Morgan simply read over a paper for Barrows and forgot about it until later in the investigation. Holmes explains, “Its so common, theres no reason to lie about it. My client didnt answer the questions the way they thought he should, and when he thought about it, he remembered some stuff, and wanted to add that to the investigation, and when he did, he got terminated.” Holmes says Morgan didn’t lie about anything. Instead, he believes investigators decided to fire Morgan before they even talked to him. Holmes says, “It wasnt a situation where they had a smoking gun or a piece of paper that showed he lied. It was all subjective.” The Fort Smith Police Department didn’t want to talk to us about this case. Even though he’s still out of a job, Morgan can appeal to the Circuit Court. Major Jeff Barrows begins his own appeal process Friday. We will let you know what happens.