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Firefighter files lawsuit against city of Corbin a week after being arrested for theft
Posted On 13 Oct 2010
A Corbin firefighter, arrested last week for allegedly stealing city property and selling it for his own gain, has filed a lawsuit claiming city officials conspired to wrongly have him arrested in retaliation for him disciplining two firefighters that worked under him.
According to a lawsuit filed in Whitley Circuit Court Oct. 7, Eric Isom, through Corbin Attorney David O. Smith, accuses Corbin Fire Chief Barry McDonald, Corbin Police Col. David Maiden and Sgt. Bill Rose of hatching the plan. The city’s Mayor, Willard McBurney, along with Commissioners Bruce Farris, Ricky Lynch, Phil Gregory and Joe Shelton, in their official capacity, are also named in the lawsuit.
Isom apparently "wrote up for discipline" two employees of the Fire Department "who are favored by McDonald" some time after he took possession of two emergency light bars confiscated by the police following a criminal investigation in May. He sold the light bars for $125 each, one to fellow firefighter Chad Jackson and the other to Brandon Wagers.
The lawsuit claims McDonald, angered that Isom had disciplined the two unnamed firefighters, "vowed and vocally proclaimed his intention to fire Isom …" McDonald was angry, the suit says, because the firefighters were also members of the West Knox Volunteer Fire Department. McDonald is a former chief of that department.
McDonald was contacted about the lawsuit Tuesday, but would not comment.
Many of the city’s firefighters also serve with West Knox.
Rose said he was contacted by firefighters about the light bars on Sept. 13, which were supposedly handed over to the fire department. Isom claims he was given the light bars, repaired them and sold them, a fact that was known by his fellow firefighters and the Police Department.
Isom says in the lawsuit that McDonald, Rose, Maiden, and other employees, used the light bars later as a way to arrest him and put his employment in peril.
Isom was arrested last Monday on two counts of theft by failure to make required disposition under $500 – misdemeanor offenses. He was lodged in the Whitley County Detention Center and released, pending trial, on a $500 cash bond.
The lawsuit claims that Rose and Maiden "did not obtain" the light bars as evidence and told those who purchased them not to allow Isom to repurchase them prior to his arrest.
"The actions complained of herein are wrongful, for an abusive purpose, constitutes and abuse of the criminal process to effectuate the desired termination of the Plaintiff from his employment, for the purpose of defaming the Plaintiff, placing him in a false light …" the lawsuit reads. "The Defendants have caused the Plaintiff to be falsely imprisoned, slandered, libeled and maligned the reputation of a fine, young fireman … and have and continue to inflict severe emotional distress …"
Corbin City Manager Bill Ed Cannon said he recalls being informed that the light bars were being transferred to the Fire Department for its use, but was not aware that Isom had sold them until recently.
"There’s no big deal with transferring stuff between departments, but one thing my people should know is that you can’t do anything with city property unless it has been declared surplus," Cannon said. "Then you can only get rid of it one of two ways: at a public auction or by a public bid."
The lawsuit is asking the city be prevented from taking any administrative actions against Isom until his criminal case is resolved.
Cannon said city leader have no intention of disciplining Isom until his criminal charges have been taken care of by the courts. Isom has served as a firefighter since Oct. 21, 2002 and is still with the department.
The suit also asks for compensatory and punitive damages and attorney fees.
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Well, I have found out that there is other things about the lights, like the fact that they was given to him or at least it was understood they was. I guess we will see how everything goes down.
I was thinking of moving to Corbin/Laurel Co area from Louisville. I’m retired from Law Enforcement. But after reading what Jean ValJean and others on this and other problems with corrupt police and city officials I’m reluctant to say the least.It seems that Jean Valjean may know what he’s talking about.
Three thoughts:
1. If Isom took city-owned property, sold it, and put the money in his pocket, he’s guilty of theft. Period! It doesn’t matter if the boss was angry at him over another, unrelated matter.
2. Even IF Isom’s allegations regarding McDonald’s beef against him for disciplining McDonald’s buddies is true,……that does not give Isom immunity from ever being terminated. If that were true, we’d all start out in our jobs by ****in’ off the boss so we could never be fired.
3. The fact that Isom hired David O. Smith as his attorney tells me it’s probably a B.S. “case”.
People need to know the truth about eric isom and it will come out. He will try anything to try and make his name look good, something mr Eric is not telling everyone is he is on west Knox also he is on the roster so he is part of west Knox but that has nothing to do with his crime. No one forced him to sell the lights that belonged to the city he done this on his own. So how can u sue and blam this on anyone but him self, there is more then this that will come out in the end. There could be a lot more to come out.. I am sure there is a lot of favorites being played down there. And if someone that was wrote up happens to be Jack I am sure he is the one that stirred all the problems up…
Isom apparently “wrote up for discipline” two employees of the Fire Department “who are favored by McDonald” Who are the two that go wrote up, are they the same that contacted the police?
People need to know the truth about eric isom and it will come out. He will try anything to try and make his name look good, something mr Eric is not telling everyone is he is on west Knox also he is on the roster so he is part of west Knox but that has nothing to do with his crime. No one forced him to sell the lights that belonged to the city he done this on his own. So how can u sue and blam this on anyone but him self, there is more then this that will come out in the end.
Here we go again. Corruption in city government. Why did the FD go after Isom? Where is the camaraderie among firefighters and cops? It seems that the only reason things like this happen is because of others seeking to make themselves look good. Nepotism has been replaced by favoristism. There is a lot of bad blood within each dept, and the only way Isom can recover is by hiring a shister lawyer like D.O. Smith, and one thing about DO, he will make sure that the city answers for their crimes. He has a lot of experience filing suit against the city.