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One deputy loses job over Twin Peaks photo incident
By Isadora Vail | Wednesday, August 19, 2009, 01:42 PM
A Midland County sheriff’s deputy was fired after police say he and four other deputies asked a waitress to take a picture with one of their service rifles while they were visiting a restaurant in Round Rock last week, Midland Sheriff Gary Painter said.
Midland County Deputy Daniel Subia was fired, Deputy Art Nunez received a letter of reprimand, and three others — deputies Miguel Ramos, Chris Evans and Ron Wright — received three days of suspension without pay, Painter said.
The deputies will not face criminal charges, according to Melissa Hightower, an investigator with the Williamson County Attorney’s office.
On Aug. 10, Round Rock police were called to the Twin Peaks restaurant — where waitresses typically wear halter tops and short shorts — at 100 E. Louis Henna Blvd. after an off-duty Manor police officer reported seeing a waitress holding what appeared to be a rifle in the parking lot, according to a police report. The deputies were taking photos as she held it, the report said.
The report says the waitress told police that it was the deputies who asked her to come outside and pose with the weapon, according to the report.
The off-duty officer called Round Rock police.
The deputies were in Round Rock for training, Painter said Thursday.
Eric Poteet, a spokesman for the Round Rock police, said they did not charge the deputies because no crime was committed.
Dee Hobbs, chief of the criminal division of the Williamson County attorney’s office, had said the officers could face charges of disorderly conduct, a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in jail.
Painter said it would have been a “kneejerk reaction” to fire all of the deputies involved. Instead, he interviewed each deputy separately and doled out reprimands based on the deputies’ participation in the incident.
Subia, who was fired, was “the one who handed the weapon to the lady,” Painter said.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Peaks
Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks is an American television serial drama created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. The series follows the investigation, headed by Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan), of the brutal murder of a popular teenager and homecoming queen, Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). Twin Peaks' pilot episode was first broadcast on April 8, 1990 on the ABC Network, which led to another seven episodes being produced, and a second season, which aired until June 10, 1991. The show was set in a small fictional Washington town. Exteriors were primarily filmed in Snoqualmie and North Bend; most of the interior scenes were shot on standing sets in a San Fernando Valley (near Hollywood) warehouse.
Twin Peaks became one of 1990s' top-rated shows, a critical success both nationally and internationally. Reflecting its devoted cult fan base, the series became a part of popular culture, referenced in other television shows, commercials, comic books, a video game, films and song lyrics. Declining viewer ratings led to ABC's insistence that the identity of Laura's murderer be revealed midway through the second season, a ratings ploy which interfered with several other long-running story lines and resulted in an even sharper ratings decline and the show's cancellation. In 1992, the series spawned a prequel, the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, a commercial failure in America.
Twin Peaks currently airs sporadically, in weekday marathons, on NBC Universal's horror/suspense-themed cable channel Chiller. The entire series (except the pilot episode) is viewable on CBS.com to those who are within region. The show is now airing regularly on the A&E's Crime & Investigation Network.
