Deputy termination upheld

By Judith Pannebaker

Wilson's appeal denied

Former Bandera County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Christopher Wilson won’t be returning to patrol duty, according to Sheriff Weldon Tucker.

On Tuesday, Nov. 4, Wilson was terminated for what was later characterized as his “non-involvement” in a one-vehicle accident that claimed four lives.

BCSO administrators denied his appeal on Monday, Nov. 17. In a San Antonio newspaper, Wilson had predicted his actions would eventually be vindicated. He was quoted as saying, “Ninety percent of what’s being said isn’t true or correct.” Evidently, Tucker thought otherwise.

In an interview, he said Wilson had committed three procedural errors – “dereliction of duty, conduct unbecoming an officer and failure to further investigate a reported crime.”

The night of Nov. 3, Wilson was going through the drive-thru window at the Sonic in Bandera when employee Keri Flores informed him, “I just wanted to tell you that the guys in that black truck are highly intoxicated and should not be driving. The passenger has an open container. The driver hit the sign.”
According to Flores, the deputy glanced at the black Ford pickup truck and replied, “I’ll call the city officer.”

At 10:19 – almost 20 minutes later – Wilson informed Officer Brian Chmylak of the Bandera Police Department about the quartet of possibly intoxicated youths at the Sonic, saying, “There’s a black truck at Sonic that has intoxicated males inside and they hit a sign.”

In his incident report, Chmylak noted, “I asked him why (he hadn’t done) something about it and he did not answer.”

The pickup with its four occupants had disappeared by the time the city officer arrived at the Sonic and he could not locate it. However, while taking pictures and statements from Sonic Manager Raymond Clift and Flores about the driver’s earlier collision with a sign, Chmylak received a radio call about a vehicle that had hit a utility pole just past Alkek Elementary School on Highway 173 South.

At Wilson’s request, Chmylak reported to the crash scene. While assisting with traffic control, Chmylak noted the license plate of the pickup truck involved in the fatal one-vehicle rollover as the one given to him by Clift.

At midnight, Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace Lynn Holt pronounced Randall Lee Collins, 20, of Watauga; Tyler James Lewis, 21, of Pipe Creek; Clayton Dean Oliver, 17, and John David Gaddis, 16, both of Bandera, dead at the scene.
The sheriff said Wilson had offered no explanation for failing to intervene in a potentially dangerous situation.

“It was his duty to act,” Tucker said. “At the very least, he should have held the vehicle and its occupants until the city officer arrived. I think it was just plain laziness on his part.”

After Wilson’s immediate supervisor, Deputy Jerry Johnson, wrote him up for the trio of procedural errors, BCSO Chief Deputy Don Berger terminated the patrol deputy. Wilson appealed his dismissal to Tucker, the department’s elected official.

Regarding the appeal, Tucker said, “I upheld Chief Deputy Berger’s decision. Wilson did not act according to what we are taught and he did not follow procedure.”

During Monday’s appeal process, Tucker spoke with Wilson for approximately 30 minutes. “We don’t all comprehend the same information in the same way,” he said. “I wanted to be sure that Wilson understood why he had been terminated.” Tucker added, “After we talked, he fully understood.”

Wilson had worked for the BCSO for three years. Once an investigator, he had recently been reassigned to patrol, Tucker said.

According to a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, autopsies and toxicology screenings have not yet been completed on the deceased youths.