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Lieutenant disciplined for comments at Newaygo County commission meeting

Posted at 6:25 PM, Mar 02, 2015
and last updated 2015-03-02 18:34:34-05

WHITE CLOUD, Mich. --Chad Palmiter, a lieutenant with the Newaygo County Sheriff's Office, has been disciplined for comments he made at the Jan. 28 county commission meeting.

The meeting included the mere formality that the sheriff's department get approval from the board of commissioners to use $15,000 of federal grant money for drunk driving enforcement.  But it's what the lieutenant said, and what was captured on video, that has him in trouble.

"Me, I'm a numbers guy," says Palmiter in the meeting. "I know you're not allowed to do it by federal law and state law, but I'd put stipulations on the numbers I want to see by the end of (officers') shift.  And we have in the past. The guys that can't perform the numbers have been removed for that particular grant for the remainder of the year."

Sheriff Patrick Hedlund told FOX 17 that after a thorough investigation and after speaking to Lt. Palmiter, he has suspended the officer as allowed in the union contract and department policy but has not fired him.