Two McComb police officers will be appealing disciplinary action taken against them at a Jan. 19 civil service hearing.
Rodney Nordstrom will be appealing his demotion from deputy police chief to lieutenant and a seven-day suspension without pay that occurred in December.
Detective Keyanna Martin will be appealing her 14-day suspension without pay for insubordination.
Nordstrom was suspended with pay Nov. 23 following an alleged altercation with Police Chief Garland Ward, who also was suspended with pay.
Nordstrom’s demotion and suspension without pay followed two weeks later. Ward also was suspended with pay on Nov. 23 and later suspended for 10 days without pay. The city board also ordered him to attend anger management classes.
Nordstrom could not be reached for comment on Thursday. Martin declined to comment.
McComb officials agreed in December to have City Attorney Marcus Williams represent them in the civil service hearing for the two police officers.
City Administrator David Myers said the city stands by the board’s decision to discipline the officers.
“I feel confident that the city is on good footing and that we did everything we were supposed to do as it relates to those suspensions and those violations that those two officers were basically punished for,” he said. “We’re confident that we did everything we were supposed to do and those punishments for those two officers will stand.
“Obviously, civil service employees, you have the right to appeal any and all disciplinary actions if they feel the need to do that,” he said. “That’s what these two officers are doing. They’re appealing their disciplinary action, so they have that right and we support that right to be able to do that.”
