JONESBORO — Jonesboro Mayor Donya Sartor is under investigation after being accused of pulling a gun on a city police lieutenant in late August.
On Aug. 30, a Jonesboro Police Department lieutenant reported the Aug. 29 incident to Police Chief Tommy Henderson, who then requested an investigation from the Clayton County District Attorney’s Office on Sept. 5. The next day, District Attorney Tasha Mosley requested the GBI investigate the incident as an impartial third party.
In a Sept. 14 interview, Sartor said she did have the gun out in his presence and transferred it from a drawer to her purse but did not pull it on him.
“It was not pulled on him,” she said. “I keep my firearm in my drawer. Me having a firearm is not criminal. I didn’t violate any law or current statute in the charter. If there was any law, I would have been arrested by now.”
She also added that he was back in her office two times after that and they worked together after the incident.
“It’s impossible for me to believe he felt unsafe if he turned around and came back two times,” she said.
In the letter submitted to Henderson, the lieutenant wrote that Sartor pointed the gun in his direction.
“This unexpected and unsettling action left me feeling assaulted and in fear for my personal safety,” he wrote. “There was absolutely no need to touch, point to, motion to, or retrieve a loaded firearm in my presence during this meeting in her office. The handling of a firearm in my presence was completely unwarranted.”
The lieutenant also wrote that Sartor has openly expressed her intent to fire him because he brought issues of administrative policy, criminal liability, and public integrity to her attention and that her behavior has created a hostile work environment.
He also noted that her having a loaded firearm at Jonesboro City Center was a violation of…
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