JENNIFER WALKER
Glasgow Daily Times
GLASGOW
January 08, 2009 01:38 pm
—
Members of the Glasgow Police Department appeared before a Federal grand jury in Bowling Green on Tuesday.
Two officers, Sgt. Noah Coats and School Resource Officer Howard Garrison, and dispatcher Shawna Poore were all ordered to appear. Prosecutors, police and witnesses would not discuss the nature of the grand jury’s secret proceedings.
Coats arrived before 8:50 a.m. Garrison and Poore arrived together a few minutes later. None were in uniform, nor were they accompanied by attorneys.
After appearing before the grand jury in a third floor courtroom, the three employees of the Glasgow Police Department were questioned outside of the William H. Natcher Federal Courthouse on Main Street.
“I’m here for the grand jury,” Coats said. “I still don’t know what it’s all about. It’ll all come out eventually.”
Garrison and Poore refused to talk about their appearances.
“I’d rather not talk about it right now,” Garrison said.
All were asked why they were ordered to appear before the grand jury, but none would say.
Glasgow Police Chief Gary Bewley also did not shed any light on the situation.
When told three members of his department were seen leaving the federal courthouse, Bewley said, “I have to say no comment to that.”
“I can’t answer a question about that. I’m sorry. I don’t have anything I can tell you,” he said.
A U.S. assistant attorney who was contacted by the Glasgow Daily Times on Thursday morning did not confirm there is an investigation.
Coats has been a member of the Glasgow Police Department since January 1994, according to department records. Poore was hired in May 2006 and Garrison was hired in April 2007. Garrison works as the resource officer for the Glasgow Independent Schools District.
A federal grand jury is made up of at least a dozen individuals chosen at random and hears only the prosecutor’s side of a case.
A grand jury determines whether or not the evidence presented is enough to indict the accused.
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