Bradenton officer punished for insubordination

Monday, February 5, 2007

Homeless advocate Martha Childress said Evans was trying to help a homeless person.

A Bradenton police officer has been disciplined for insubordination.

Officer Nicholas Evans received a 30-day suspension without pay. In early January, Evans pulled a shopping cart with a homeless woman's belongings in it to the Port Manatee Jail and a second time to a pharmacy, hanging his arm out the window of his police cruiser to drag it. The normal 15-minute drive took more than an hour.

Evans had arrested the woman for violating a court order.

Evans dragged another cart for a few blocks the next night, which led to the insubordination charge, because he had been told not to do so after the first incident.

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Evans' supervisor recommended his termination, but the police chief reduced that to the 30-day suspension.

Some homeless advocates say Evans should be rewarded, not reprimanded.

"He was trying to help somebody," said homeless advocate Martha Childress. "He was trying to do his job by arresting somebody, but he was trying to consider her as a person, as a human being."

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