Officer Resigns, Council Calls Meeting

Update 4:20 p.m.

Todd Vande Zande, Canton's interim police chief, confirmed that Officer Daniel Henley resigned today.

Here's the transcript of his interview with Canton-Sixes Patch:

"It's true.

I found out this afternoon.

I was attending a vendor demonstration and I called back here on my way back to see how everything was going and found out that he came in, turned in a letter of resignation and turned his gear in and that was it.

He hasn't been back to work since the incident aired on TV.

He took off. He's called in sick. And then today, he came in and turned in his resignation.

To whom it may concern:

Please accept this letter as my letter of resignation from the Canton Police Department effective immediately. April 11, 2012

No (I haven't spoken to him since TV report aired).

I was surprised because normally we get some sort of notice, but I can't say that I blame him. I think that he took quite a beating and I think the focus was shifted to him and it should have been shifted to someone else and he felt embarrassed and humiliated and let down. I think he thinks that we let him down—the city of Canton Police Department, me specifically.

I did defend him. And he's a good employee and I wish he was still here, but you hold the agency head responsible. And I don't know what he thinks I could have done any different, but I think he feels like most employees feel: That it's the responsibility of a good supervisor to protect their employees when something like this happens. And to the extent that I was able to do that, I did that. I can't do anything else. I can't say something was right that wasn't right. And I wish I could've done more for him, but I couldn't. It's unfortunate for him that the focus was on him and not where it should have been—on the person that created the incident to begin with.

Well, I'm pretty sure everybody knows who that is. There were only two parties in the traffic stop.

They just called and told me (about the special called meeting). Nothing other than that they've asked me to be there."

Original report 3:20 p.m.

In the wake of a , the officer who pulled him over has resigned from the .

And a special meeting has been scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday in which the council will go into executive session to discuss personnel matters, Mayor Gene Hobgood said.

"It will principally be an executive session to discuss a personnel matter," he said. "It may be other matters involving the police department as well. I just learned of Officer (Daniel) Henley about 30 minutes ago. I don't know any other details.

Henley's resignation comes less than a week after a WSB-TV report revealed that the city manager was pulled over shortly after a March 15 city council meeting.

Until that report, the city said nothing about the stop.

Wood drove off that night with a warning for failing to maintain his lane and driving 45 m.p.h. in a 30 m.p.h. zone. And Henley received a verbal warning for shutting off the audio toward the end of the stop.

That violation of police department policy and the city's silence around the incident have raised questions about Wood and if he was the recipient of preferential treatment.

While , an admission from the interim chief sparked new questions.

In an interivew with Canton-Sixes Patch that same day, Todd Vande Zande said with a request.

She said that Wood "wished to meet with myself and Officer Henley in his office," Todd Vande Zande said.

He said he didn't know the purpose for the meeting and never followed up because "I don't know that it's an appropriate thing to do."

Wood has not returned messages left for him since Friday. His only public comments regarding the traffic stop came Thursday, during that WSB report.

"I neither asked for and hopefully did not receive any kind of preferential treatment," Wood told reporter Michael Buczyner.

Stay tuned to Canton-Sixes Patch for updates on this breaking news story.