The police chief of Moss Point, Mississippi has been fired after dash cam video of him being stopped while driving drunk was made public by local media. Chief Art McClung was stopped on July 29th by officers from the Pascagoula Police Department. At the time, he was driving a city issued vehicle and was driving as fast as 109 MPH on city streets.
Once the video surfaced, he was initially suspended 45 days. Later, a vote was held by Moss Point Mayor Billy Broomfield and the city’s Board of Aldermen, resulting in McClure being fired. (See video embedded below.)
He readily admitted to drinking “at least three vodkas” and one of the officers conducting the stop can be heard on the video stating that he is “obviously DUI” several times to another officer. Officers can also be heard stating that Chief McClure had turned on the lights to his own vehicle prior to being pulled over, presumably to discourage them from doing so. Early in the video, the officer whose vehicle made the dash camera video can be heard discussing over the radio that the person they pulled over is the police chief from Moss Point.
In spite of him being described as obviously drunk and having admitted to drinking prior to driving, the Pascagoula police officers eventually released him and then drove him home instead of arresting him. Chief McClung was not issued a citation and the officers involved in his stop did not even file a police report afterwards. It was reported that Pascagoula Police Chief Kenny Johnson instructed the officers to drive McClure home.
At one point (around the 8 minute mark) in the video, one of the officers can be heard asking the other if he “has video going,” and then instructing him to turn it off by shutting off the police car’s flashing lights. The officer recording the dash cam shuts off the lights in an attempt to do so, but it only stops the audio and the video continues for another couple minutes without sound while they take Chief McClure out of the other police car and remove his handcuffs.
Chief McClure did manage to keep his Policeman’s Discount, though. He is not being prosecuted for driving drunk, nor is he facing any other criminal charges related to this incident.
Kelly is a lifelong resident of Las Vegas, who’s been very active in local grassroots activism, as well as on a national level during his extensive travels. He’s also the founder/main contributor of Nevada Cop Block, served as editor/contributor at CopBlock.org and designed the Official Cop Block Press Passes.
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