Charleston Police Chief Luther Folson Jr. was fired Tuesday night (Sept. 5) by the Charleston Board of Commissioners, according to a source.
The Sun-Sentinel was not present for the meeting and was unable before press time early Wednesday to gather details or comments about the vote.
The 46-year-old Folson, of Water Valley, was hired as police chief in November 2016 by a unanimous vote of the city board. He succeeded longtime chief John Page, who retired at the end of the year.
A nine-year veteran of law enforcement, with previous stints at the Coffeeville and Water Valley police departments, Folson was hired as a patrolman in Charleston in November 2015 and had served with the department until his promotion to chief.
His roughly 10-month tenure as chief was marked by no reported major public drama, but tensions apparently were brewing behind the scenes.
When a new city board was seated in July — four of the five members were brand new — the police chief reportedly became an increasing topic of conversation.
At an unusual noontime special meeting of the Charleston city board, called to address “police matters,” the members voted unanimously Aug. 31 to suspend Folson and to notify him of a pre-termination employment hearing set for Tuesday night.
The motion was made by Ward 4 Commissioner Sandy Smith and seconded by Ward 1 Commissioner Gyrone Kenniel, with no official reason cited in the handwritten notes from the meeting made available to The Sun-Sentinel on Friday morning, Sept. 1.
Charleston City Clerk Ana Ealy said Folson was suspended with pay pending the Sept. 5 hearing, at which Folson was invited to speak.
Folson confirmed to The Sun-Sentinel via text message last Thursday night that he had been suspended and that a letter of notification had been hand-delivered to him at his Water Valley residence by a Charleston police officer.
Folson said he was not present for the Aug. 31 special meeting of the board because he was “out on sick leave.”
He stated, matter-of-factly, that his suspension was “pending the board meeting on Tuesday where they plan to terminate me.”
In a Friday (Sept. 1) conversation, Folson declined to elaborate, saying, “I will have a comment for you after Tuesday.”
Sandy Smith, who made the Aug. 31 motion to suspend the chief, was asked Friday (Sept. 1) to comment on the circumstances surrounding that action but declined “at this time,” because, she noted, it was a “personnel matter.”
Charleston Mayor Sedrick Smith said Friday (Sept. 1) that the Folson suspension and pre-termination hearing were “something we had been working on for several board meetings and it just came to a head.”
He, too, offered no further explanation.
The mayor did say that until a replacement chief was named, police captain Wendy Jones would be in charge of the department.
IN THE PHOTO: Luther Folson is pictured at a swearing-in ceremony in July. (Photo by Clay McFerrin)
