Notorious ex-Henderson police officer Tony Finch told Vance County Commissioners yesterday that officers of the Vance County Sheriff’s Office violated his civil rights in an altercation that took place on January 9, 2009.
Finch first gained notoriety in the summer of 2007 when he was charged with ethnic intimidation, going armed to the terror of the public, and carrying a concealed weapon after an altercation that took place on June 8, 2007. He ended up pleading to a lesser charge of communicating threats in March of 2008 and was given a 45 day suspended sentence as well as two years of supervised probation.
In August of 2008, Finch was charged with making a threat against District Attorney Sam Currin, a charge that was later dropped.
Working from a list of complaints, Finch told members that on January 9, 2009, two Vance County deputies came to his home to take his grandchild. According to Finch, he questioned the right of the deputies to take the seventeen year-old girl, and asked the deputies if she would be taken to a safe location out of concern for her welfare.
It is unclear why the child was being removed from Finch’s home. Finch made reference to a dispute with his stepson, but did not state directly that the dispute was the cause of the removal of the child from Finch’s home.
Finch told board members that he did not make any threats. He said that when he stood up, the deputies grabbed him and threw him down and attempted to handcuff him.
At the center of his complaint is Finch’s desire to be compensated for a reclining chair he said was broken during the encounter with Vance County law enforcement. Finch’s account was not clear about how the chair was broken.
Finch stated that he was then taken to the Sheriff’s Office in his boxer shorts, and that he was bleeding.
“I was not a threat,” Finch told commissioners. He also told members that everything he has ever been charged with has been dismissed or that he’s “beaten it in court”.
The former police officer said that the deputies used vulgar language as well.
Finch also claimed that eight months’ worth of telephone calls to Vance County Sheriff Peter White have gone unanswered.
Board Chair Dan Brummitt thanked Finch for his remarks and told him that the board takes matters such as his seriously. He said that the incident would be referred to the Public Safety Committee for review, and that the board would get back to him in 60 days.
Commissioner Eddie Wright commended Finch on his conduct at the meeting, and added that “we have a good sheriff here.”
“We are blessed to have this sheriff,” Eddie Wright said.