The Herald
CHESTER, S.C. — The fire chiefs from all 12 of Chester County’s volunteer fire departments will hold an emergency meeting Wednesday night after one of the chiefs and his brother — a former Chester County Councilman — were arrested over the weekend following a scuffle with Sheriff Alex Underwood and other deputies.
And despite what might point to an outside probe of what happened because the sheriff and his officers are the alleged victims, the State Law Enforcement Division has not been asked to look at what happened.
The fire chief’s association will meet at 7 p.m. at the Chester County administrative building in Chester, said John Agee, Richburg Volunteer Fire Department Chief and chairman of the association. The meeting of the non-profit group will likely adjourn into executive session so that the chiefs can review what happened when Andy Martin, West Chester chief, and his brother Tommy Martin were charged with assault, Agee said.
Agee declined to comment on the incident, but the association is expected to issue a statement about the concerns of the fire chiefs after the meeting Wednesday night.
SLED has not been asked to intervene and take over the investigation and prosecution of the case, said Thom Berry, a SLED spokesman.
Underwood alleges that Tommy Martin hit him then assaulted another deputy at a wreck scene on S.C. 9 west of Chester Friday afternoon. The sheriff and his deputies also allege Andy Martin pushed and pulled deputies and had to be restrained. The incident started when deputies who first responded to the scene left despite the firefighters asking that the road be closed. Then afterward comments were made by Chief Andy Martin over the radio about the upcoming sheriff election in 2016, Underwood and his top deputies showed up at the scene. The incident escalated into obscenities and a physical altercation after that, police allege.
Deputies arrested both Martins Saturday night at home - more than 24 hours after the incident - and each man who has more than 40 years of volunteer service had to spend the night in jail before being released Sunday morning on personal recognizance bonds.
Tommy Martin is a former Chester County Councilman until 2008 who before that served six years on the Chester County school board.
Andy Martin told The Herald that the police handling of the incident was a “fiasco.” Tommy Martin has declined comment.
Underwood said in a statement that assaulting a police officer will not be tolerated and that no one is above the law.
The incident has sparked concerns about the role of police and firefighters at scenes and the ability of those people to work together to protect public safety. More, there is a political arm to what happened, as the police report from the incident mentions talk during the argument and scuffle over the election and ongoing legal battle between the sheriff and county for control of Chester County’s 911 system
The incident was not addressed at Monday night’s Chester County Council meeting, according to several members who attended. Underwood and several deputies attended the meeting but did not mention the incident during the meeting.
“This is a bad situation,” said Archie Lucas, a Chester County councilman. “No matter where you stand on this, these people are volunteers, and we need ‘em. If it wasn’t for volunteers in Chester County, with the fire departments and rescue squads, we would all be in a world of trouble.”
Alec Oliphant, another council member, said the incident shows the need for county sheriff cars to have dash cam video which would have documented the scene. Chester sheriff’s office cars do not have dash cams, Oliphant said.
“We should have at least one car per shift that would have it,” Oliphant said.
The volunteer fire departments in Chester are governed by a seven-member rural fire commission with one appointee from each county council member. That commission has not yet met to discuss the issue. Andy Martin, the West Chester chief arrested, serves on that board and last year was its chairman.
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