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Resident alleges police mishandled trespass notice and shredded document
Summary
A Live Oak resident told the council July 8 that police issued a trespass warning after a 30-minute absence, delayed a property-owner signature nine days, and that an officer shredded an original document; the council labeled it a police matter and no formal action was recorded.
Terry Gerson, a resident who said he lives on Westmoreland Street, told the City of Live Oak Council on July 8 that he filed an April 3 complaint alleging police mishandled a trespass notice and destroyed the original document.
Gerson told the council he had called police after finding a person sleeping on Hardee’s property and said Officer Cook responded but did not remove the person. Gerson said he later spoke with Officer Taylor when officers approached him at Carroll’s Laundromat. He said Officer Cook later issued him a trespass warning and that the property owner’s signature on the warning was not obtained until nine days later.
“My name is Terry Gerson. I live on Westmoreland Street … On April 3, I called in a complaint regarding a person sleeping on the Hardee's property,” Gerson told the council. He later said, according to the transcript, that “Officer Cook issued the trespass warning.” Gerson alleged a copy of the first warning was shredded and said Officer Taylor had obtained the trespass warning that night but that the signature delay followed.
Gerson asked why the officers had not removed the person when they first were called and said he believed the shredding of the first copy could amount to a felony. Council members interrupted to remind him of the meeting’s three-minute public comment limit and to note that the matter was a police issue. The council chair called it a police matter and said staff would speak to Gerson after the meeting; Officer Davis was asked to intervene during the exchange.
No disciplinary action, police investigation report, or follow-up timeline was discussed on the record during the meeting, and the council did not take formal action on the complaint. The chair also cited meeting bylaws to enforce the three-minute public comment rule; Gerson at one point referenced the First Amendment while speaking.
The council did not provide additional detail on whether the police department had opened an internal investigation or whether the trespass warning and signatures would be produced for review.
