A Maury County deputy has been fired for allegedly using excessive force on an 11-year-old middle school student.
The deputy was a School Resource Officer at E.A. Cox Middle School in Columbia, where the alleged incident happened on Nov. 30.
Tim Byrdsong was a Maury County Sheriff’s Deputy for about a year. He became an SRO at E.A. Cox towards the end of 2017.
He was fired just this past Friday.
Tim Byrdsong is an active member of the community. He’s a pastor and the current president of the Maury County NAACP.
“Never had any type of warnings, write-ups, no disciplinary problems, he is a good officer,” said Attorney Doak Patton.
For the last year, the 27-year-old had been a Maury County deputy and a school resource officer working at E.A. Cox Middle School.
He is now represented by Patton, who says he enjoyed working with the kids.
“He loves the kids.”
According to sources, on Nov. 30, a fight erupted between two middle school students. sources told News 2 the fight between two students was near the gym.
birdsong became involved.
The incident, involving an 11-year-old boy, was captured on video.
Multiple sources who have seen the video said the force used by the SRO was excessive.
“I think when you look at what officers go through, many times, video can be misleading, and we want our opportunity to present our case in court to show all the facts,” said Patton.
Patton says he has to see the video but told News 2 his client will be vindicated.
“I think he was a good officer and put in a very bad situation and he reacted the best he could under those circumstances to protect all the parties concerned including the student he had to take down.”
News 2 reached out to Sheriff Bucky Rowland, who respectfully declined comment because it’s an active investigation that has now been turned over to the district attorney’s office.
D.A. Brent Cooper has seen the video of the alleged incident and released a statement.
Sheriff Rowland brought this matter to my attention when he learned of it late last week. my office is conducting the investigation independently of the sheriff’s dept and will look into it thoroughly. any time a child is harmed, it is a serious matter. when the harm is allegedly committed by someone upon whom the safety of the child relies, it becomes much more troubling.
“We believe once all the evidence comes out and all the witnesses come forward, there will be a different story than the one the sheriff was told,” said Patton.
Byrdsong is fighting his termination he has a civil service hearing in the next three weeks.
The school system had no comment, referring the matter to the Maury County Sheriff’s Department.
