GA Assistant Chief Resigns after FF Altercation

An assistant fire chief in a northwestern Georgia county has resigned after an altercation with two firefighters at a fire scene resulted in his arrest.

The Union-Recorder reports that Murray County Assistant Chief Chris Butler, a 21-year veteran of the department, resigned earlier this month after being arrested on two counts of simple battery and willful obstruction or hindrance of a firefighter, which are both misdemeanors.

According to an incident report by the Murray County Sheriff's Office, firefighters Troy Lanier and Justin Ridley had arrived to fight a house fire at about 10:40 p.m. on July 4 when Butler began yelling at them about how they had positioned a fire apparatus and how they were performing their jobs.

Butler, whom the police report says was standing in the middle of the active scene without any protective gear on, allegedly placed his hands around Ridley's "neck/face area" while he berated him during a 360-degree inspection of the house and yanked on Lanier's PPE pants leg to pull him away from the fire.

When a responding sheriff's deputy approached Butler at the scene, the assistant chief said "he got very upset with the guys."

"He stated that upon arrival to the scene, he was not happy with the way that a fire engine was parked and was not happy about how other things were being done on the scene," the report says. "He said that is when he noticed a fireman, Justin Ridley, just ‘freelancing’ and he blew up."

Butler was placed under arrest at the scene when the two firefighters said they wanted to press charges and he resigned the day after the incident.