An internal affairs investigation determined Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Tim Nichols posed a "threat to public safety" for five sustained policy violations, leading to his dismissal before an appeal allowed him to resign instead.

In an exclusive interview with Bay News 9, Nichols admitted he made mistakes, but he disagreed with some of the investigation's findings.

The investigation concluded Nichols violated FHP policy as he drove the wrong way on Interstate 275 in a chase of a suspect and unholstered his gun outside a classroom of nursing students, according to the dismissal letter. He appealed the dismissal and was allowed to resign in May.

Nichols made national headlines in 2010 when Bay News 9 first aired dash cam video showing the trooper shooting nine rounds at a fleeing sandwich thief in a Palm Harbor nursing home parking lot during Oct. 2009. Nichols was suspended for 40 hours after the shooting for "careless use of a weapon."

With his latest issues, "[Nichols'] actions as a totality clearly indicate flawed judgment ... by improper use of your weapon and your dangerous driving," FHP Col. David Brierton wrote in the letter.

"There’s some things that I regret," Nichols said, "but there’s a couple of things in there that I don’t agree with, that I did not do. I will go to my grave knowing that.” 

Wrong-way chase

One of Nichols' most serious policy violations was driving the wrong way on the Pinellas County interstate Sept. 17, 2011. "My mistake was going up the entrance ramp," Nichols said. "I shouldn’t have done that."

Newly released dash cam video shows Nichols chasing a white car south on I-275 in St. Petersburg at about 4:00 in the morning.

Nichols clocked the car speeding at 120 mph in a posted 65 mph zone. The car failed to stop. The driver turned off the car's headlights and exited I-275 at 38th Ave. N., where both vehicles ran a red traffic light.

Nichols continued to pursue the car through a residential neighborhood. At times, the chase reached speeds of 73 mph on narrow streets, while running eight stop signs, the Office of Inspector General Investigation Unit report determined. The fleeing car eventually left the neighborhood and traveled south on a northbound exit ramp at I-275 and 22nd Ave. N.

Nichols followed the car up the exit ramp, passing a wrong-way sign and entering the interstate at speeds over 100 mph. Nichols drove the wrong way on I-275 for 1/8-mile, passing at least two cars coming the opposite direction, before a commander forced him to stop the pursuit. 

"It was 4 o’clock in the morning," Nichols said. "There was very little, if no, traffic on the roadway. The neighborhood -- there was no traffic out. It was night, so you could see cross-traffic headlights. You can see in the dash cam video that there was no cross traffic.”

Nichols said he got the tag of the speeding white car, but it was a rental vehicle. The suspect ended up getting away.

In a taped interview, the sergeant in charge at the time said she believed Nichols would've continued chasing the car the wrong way had she not called it off over the radio.   

“I think had I not cancelled him, I think he would’ve continued to chase,” said FHP Sgt. Janice Drake.

A lieutenant who reviewed the dash cam video and radio traffic agreed with Sgt. Drake.

Lt. Arthur Pugh called Nichols' decision to chase a car the wrong way on an interstate very dangerous.

Nichols says he didn't hear the first radio call to stop the chase and points out it cannot be heard on the dash cam video either.

Nichols said he decided on his own to stop at the same time a second call came down.

“Dispatch actually came back and said, 'hey did you hear what she said? No, I didn’t. But I’m cancelling it' and they said 'no, go ahead and cancel the pursuit,'” he said.

More trouble

Nichols' other serious policy violation was unholstering and displaying his gun while standing outside a classroom of nursing students at Rasmussen College in New Port Richey between August or September 2011, according to the report.

Nichols said he visited the school because his wife, Jessica Nichols, is a nursing student. He denies pulling out his gun.

"There’s no video evidence that I did the unholstering. There’s no photographic evidence that I did it," Nichols said. "You’ve got the four students -- plus me -- who say I didn’t do it.”  

FHP investigators sustained the allegation after four other students said they all witnessed Nichols unholster his gun as a joke. One witness was a former Tarpon Springs Police officer.

The allegation came to light after nursing student Samantha Shively filed a complaint against Nichols last September. Shively was 19 years old at the time.

"I had stopped taking his wife to and from school, and they would just do harassing, intimidating things," Shively said. "I also believe they hacked into my Facebook."

Investigators asked a forensic expert with the Secret Service to analyze Nichols' FHP computer and determined he did not hack into Shively's Facebook account, but the forensic computer expert did find Nichols violated FHP policy by visiting unauthorized websites.

The investigation also revealed Nichols drove his wife to and from school in his FHP cruiser on several occasions.

Nichols said it was only a couple of times because their personal car had been repossessed and they were in a jam when Shively stopped giving his wife a ride.

"I transported her and I told the investigator, I said, 'Look, I know it’s against the policy; we were in a bind,'" Nichols said. "If she had missed those two days, she’d have to start the quarter all over again. It was her last week of school. I’m sorry."

Shively said she was only supposed to give Jessica Nichols one ride, but the one ride turned into eight weeks worth. Shively said the next day, Nichols and his wife intimidated her by parking his cruiser right next to her car in an empty parking lot and giving her a "death stare."

"I parked out [farther] so there would be no bad things go on," Shively said. "They would come and park right beside me and stare at me, and then back out really fast and go on the other side; just unnecessary things."

Nichols said he never saw Shively that day and he parked near the front door. "I don’t have any reason to intimidate her," Nichols said. "I have better things to do. I’m a father of four.”

Shively told investigators she witnessed Nichols run a fellow classmate on his Driver and Vehicle Information Database, known as DAVID, inside his Pasco County home. "They typed in a fellow classmates’ name and looked it up," Shively said. "They were making fun of her picture.”

Nichols said Shively told him that her boyfriend at the time was threatening the teen and that's why he looked up some of the classmates. He could not explain why he ran others names. "To be honest with you, I don’t know why,” he said.

FHP sustained the allegation against Nichols: "You improperly accessed DAVID to look up various acquaintances. You did so for personal reasons," the report stated.

Shively also tipped off investigators that Jessica Nichols told her of a box full of confiscated driver's licenses and identification cards in a closet in their home. Nichols turned over 387 cards he kept since 2002. Nichols said he kept the cards because he didn't want the Department of Motor Vehicles to simply throw personal information in the trash. He said he didn't realize he was violating policy.

"I said, 'Well, I can’t just give them to you knowing you’re going to turn around and throw them in the garbage,'" Nichols said. "I guess then, I’ll put them in a box and keep them in my closet."

Nichols was a Trooper for 10 years and he said working in law enforcement was his dream job. "I did it, and for it to be wiped away because of one 19-year-old female." Nichols said. "Yeah, there were some policy violations. I’ll own up to that.” Nichols said he applied for a job with the Tampa Police Department, but was turned down.

“I’m glad he’s not a law enforcement officer anymore," Shively said.