Local

Fired officer breaks silence about alleged intimate relationship with superior officers

HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — A local police officer tells Channel 2 Action News she was fired after having intimate relations with her superiors. Now she's taking action to get her job back.

A Henry County police spokesperson says the department won't comment on the situations facing any of the officers in our story until after the appeals process is complete.

He said hearings will commence next week in the incident, but the woman in the middle of it all is opening up.

"I just feel like I wasn't treated fairly," former Henry County Police Officer Erin Hudgins told Channel 2's Mark Winne about the incident.

"What do you miss most about being an officer?" Winne asked Hudgins.

"The satisfaction of knowing that I go out there every day and help people when they need somebody," Hudgins replied.

Hudgins says in her 2 and a half years as a Henry County police officer, she fired her weapon once, but she felt prepared through her training.

She says when the department fired her in September, she was not prepared.

"The fact that I was treated differently than all the others, and it makes it look so bad on me, and not so bad on them, I think I'd like to get my side out there," Hudgins said.

She said the most serious charges against her involved intimate contact with two superiors: One of her field training officers and one of her sergeants.

"We're you naive?" Winne asked Hudgins.

"I think I was," Hudgins responded.

Hudgins attorney, Steve Frey, says his review of records shows the training officer and the sergeant were demoted.  He says another sergeant resigned, and was later arrested on a charge of stalking Hudgins. He's pleaded not guilty.

"I'm saying they fired the victim," Frey said. "There is an inherent conflict where two people engage in a relationship where one holds power over another."

Frey says the police department fired two other patrol officers as part of the same investigation.

Frey says Hudgins was also accused of kissing a fellow officer and was also accused of an inappropriate remark Frey called routine locker room banter.

Neither charge, he says, could be considered grounds for dismissal.