Crystal Moore
Residents of Latta, S.C., thought they had made their wishes clear on Tuesday when they voted to change the city’s government from a “strong mayor” format to a “strong council format,” stripping Mayor Earl Bullard of most of his power in doing so. And former Latta Police Chief Crystal Moore, an out lesbian, thought she was on her way to being reinstated to that job.
But Bullard pulled a fast one on Wednesday, announcing that he had used the power he was set to lose today to hire a new police chief on Monday to keep Moore from being reinstated, according to reports on Huffington Post.
Tuesday’s vote came after residents of the town of about 1,400 rallied behind Moore, fired by Bullard in April over allegations of insubordination even though the chief had a spotless 20-year record with the Latta PD. Moore and her supporters claimed Bullard fired her because she is gay and he is a homophobe — charges he denied, despite the recent release of an audio recording of the mayor going off on an anti-gay rant.
Bullard announced he had hired someone named Freddie Davis as chief and signed Davis to a two-year contract, timing his move to fall just outside a 60-day waiting period the council imposed in April to specify when another police chief could be hired.
Crystal told TV news station WPDE NewsChannel 15 she was devastated and felt has if had been fired all over again.
