(WBIR) The personnel file of Cassen Jackson-Garrison reveals new details about a man the city of Oak Ridge fired last week, amid a rape investigation.
As WBIR 10News reported Monday, former Vanderbilt and Central High School football star Jackson-Garrison lost his job as an Oak Ridge police officer Friday, following an investigation into a tip he had sex - while on duty - with a 16-year-old girl.
Jackson-Garrison's personnel file shows the 30-year-old has a history of violating Oak Ridge Police Department protocol and standards.
He joined the Oak Ridge Police Department in January 2014 as a probationary officer, which is a period for new officers that lasts one year.
In July of that year, Jackson-Garrison was involved in a traffic accident while on duty and gave an interview to the Tennessean about the experience.
In the article, reporter Mike Organ relayed what Jackson-Garrison told him about the moment of impact.
"'I was en route to a call; we had a guy running,' Jackson-Garrison said. 'I was clearing an intersection with my lights and siren on. With a big intersection you've got to clear it lane by lane. The first car stopped, and as I was creeping out, the next one was just coming too fast. The next thing I know, I woke up and they were cutting all my stuff off of me. It was the hardest ear-hole hit I ever took.'"
The Oak Ridge Police Department found Jackson-Garrison at fault. His personnel file reveals the Tennessee State Highway Patrol issued him a citation for the crash.
His supervisors would later write up Jackson-Garrison for both the crash and his unauthorized media interview, in which he "made unsubstantiated claims regarding facts about the accident which were untrue," according to a formal letter of reprimand dated Jan. 13, 2015.
In a written response to the letter, Jackson-Garrison stated, "when I made the statements to my friend/reporter, I was unaware that they were going to be published and the way they were published made it seem I was 'pointing fingers' and pushing the blame onto the true victim of the wreck."
In that response, he acknowledged the crash as "my on-duty wreck that was deemed my fault."
In a routine probationary report the very next month, supervisor Lt. John Kelly noted Jackson-Garrison had recently completed his field training and successfully transitioned "to a solo beat officer" within the department.
"Officer Jackson-Garrison is well liked by the other members of his team and he works well with the team. It is my opinion that (he) will continue on course and that he should complete his probationary period on schedule," Kelly wrote in the Aug. 24, 2014 report.
In October, however, Jackson-Garrison responded to a domestic assault call in which his supervisor, Sgt. Roy Heinz, said he demonstrated "sloppy investigative skills" and failed to write up two warrants.
Jackson-Garrison, Heinz and one other ORPD officer responded to a home, where they found a woman and her son. There had been a fight involving the woman's boyfriend, who had recently left the house.
After talking with the woman, according to documents in the personnel file, Jackson-Garrison alerted the police via radio that this had been only a verbal altercation.
Heinz then took Jackson-Garrison into the home - something he had not yet done - and showed him evidence of violence, which included blood stains and a broken mirror.
Heinz said Jackson-Garrison missed a basic, key investigative step. Jackson-Garrison said in his written response he was simply trying to clarify that the suspect had not hit the mother or son with the hammer that was on the scene.
The suspect eventually returned to the home, where he was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated assault.
Later, documents show, Jackson-Garrison failed to author the two warrants for the two counts.
"Your failure to author warrants following (the suspect's) arrest violated the aforementioned City of Oak Ridge Policy, was less than acceptable job performance and constitutes the charges of Poor Judgment," Capt. C. R. Smith wrote in the January letter of reprimand. "This failure could also have adversely impacted the rules of criminal procedure and hindered prosecutorial efforts."
Earlier in the year - the documents do not specify the date - ORPD received a complaint against Jackson-Garrison. According to the January letter of reprimand, Jackson-Garrison "improperly allowed an intoxicated woman enter a residence during a miscellaneous public assistance call for service which resulted in the woman's daughter filing a complaint against you for failing to determine whether or not the lady actually resided at the residence."
The document says Jackson-Garrison received "verbal counseling" for this incident.
Responding to the letter of reprimand, Jackson-Garrison wrote he did ask the woman "a series of question's[sic] to determine whether she lived at the residence and if she had grounds to be on the property."
He said he helped her into the home through an open window in the back of the house and then went with the woman to make sure her daughter was upstairs and safe, which she was. Jackson-Garrison then left the house.
"By the time I arrived at my vehicle the daughter as at the door yelling," he wrote. "When I approached the residence and started questioning the daughter and the mother, I reconfirmed that the mother lived at the residence, and had for years."
Not everything in the file is negative.
In November 2014, ORPD chief James Akagi commended Jackson-Garrison and his fellow officer Christopher Wallace for their response on a call. A couple had emailed the chief to compliment the two officers on their professionalism in how they handled the couple's son, who was having a crisis.
"Given our son's highly agitated state with lots of yelling, verbal threats, and theatrics, I was impressed at the cool-headed response of the two officers," the couple wrote.
WBIR is withholding their names, as they asked in the email to Akagi to protect the privacy of their son.
"Great job," Akagi wrote to the officers in an email forwarding the couple's praise. "I understand this individual was even beyond our (Crisis Intervention Team) capabilities. I appreciate your diligence and sensitivities in dealing with this situation; keep up the great work and my compliments for a job well done!"
He then specifically requested a copy of his and the couple's praise be placed in each officer's personnel file.
Still, the October incident, compounded by the July crash and the complaint from the woman's daughter, landed Jackson-Garrison an eight-hour suspension without pay, plus a formal letter of reprimand and a six-month extension on his probationary period. That disciplinary action came in January 2015.
Then, in June, Jackson-Garrison was again suspended without pay - this time for 24 hours. He was also given another six-month extension on his probationary period plus another letter of reprimand.
That stems from an incident in April.
According to the June letter of reprimand, Jackson-Garrison made contact on Facebook with a woman he'd met on April 20 at the police department, while she was there filing an unrelated criminal complaint.
Based on the Facebook interaction, in which Jackson-Garrison identified himself as an Oak Ridge police officer, according to the letter of reprimand, the two entered into a mutually consensual sexual relationship.
The woman returned to ORPD on April 27 to follow up on the original and unrelated criminal complaint she had filed.
"Once her follow up meeting was completed," Capt. Charles R. Smith wrote in Jackson-Garrison's letter of reprimand, "(the woman) told the reporting officer that she had been threatened by you and your wife via Facebook."
Smith went on to say while not illegal, Jackson-Garrison's actions violated the department's Rules of Conduct, which bar "any conduct that would degrade or bring disrespect upon the members of the Department."
As WBIR reported Monday, Jackson-Garrison worked for the Knoxville Police Department from September 2009 through January 2011. He resigned, citing "personal reasons," the day after a woman filed a complaint he had exposed himself to her.
District attorney general Dave Clark said he plans on presenting to the Anderson County Grand Jury charges related to the allegations of Jackson-Garrison's statutory rape of a 16-year-old.
