More details emerge in Perryville police-misconduct case

The Perryville, Missouri, Police Department released more details regarding an incident of misconduct for which two Perryville officers have been disciplined.

"In an effort to clarify rumor, conjecture and gossip, we have determined we can release the following information," the department said in a statement issued Thursday.

Public-information officer Cpl. Jeri Cain told the Southeast Missourian via email the incident in question involved "a report of a round shot into a residence in Perryville in 2004."

A Perryville police officer lived near the house that was hit, and this fact was discussed by investigators at some point, according to an investigator who examined the damaged house firsthand.

Brian McCain, who was a sheriff's deputy in Perry County, Missouri, until about seven years ago, told the Southeast Missourian in a phone interview Thursday he recalls speaking with then-detective Direk Hunt.

"Direk Hunt, who is now the chief, he was the one I spoke with about the incident. He was the one that was investigating it," McCain said.

McCain said he didn't recall anyone explicitly suggesting the neighbor officer was responsible for the stray bullet, but McCain also said his own involvement with the case is memorable more than a decade later in part because of that possibility.

"Obviously that was a big deal to me then, because if someone's home got shot and it was an officer, I sure as heck wanted to know about it," he said.

But McCain said the city handled nearly all of the investigation, and he, as a sheriff's deputy, likely would have been called to the scene by the homeowner.

"It wasn't portrayed as a big deal at the time," McCain said. "I remember talking to him (Hunt), and the answer he gave me was obviously good enough that I didn't question it anymore."

It is unclear exactly when McCain examined the scene and spoke with Hunt. The police department's release stated Hunt was informed in 2006 "by a sheriff's deputy that the round may have been fired by an officer."

McCain said he did not handle any evidence and thus did not generate any records with the sheriff's department related to the incident, but an individual familiar with the case who also was a Perryville police officer in 2004, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the incident McCain recalled is the same incident now being addressed by the Perryville Police Department.

According to Perryville municipal ordinances posted online, it is unlawful to discharge a firearm within city limits.

Cain wrote after 2007, "any criminal charges would not have been available due to statute of limitation."

"Chief Hunt took all of his findings and sent everything we had to the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) of the Missouri Department of Public Safety for their independent review," according to the department's statement.

tgraef@semissourian.com

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