From the Orlando Sentinel…In his first public crackdown as acting police chief, Orange sheriff’s Capt. Ralph Groover has suspended Windermere reserve police Officer Gregory Fields, and the State Attorney’s Office today charged Fields with misdemeanor battery, Groover said. “I have relieved him of his duties today as Windermere Police Officer pending administrative review,” Groover said in a statement.
The charge arose over a March incident in which Fields was accused of shoving a manager at his civilian job at Stericycle, a medical-waste-disposal company, and trying to start a fistfight, records show. When informed the company planned to call police, Fields said, “I am the [expletive] police, come find me after work and I will smoke you…,” records state.
Fields joined the troubled Windermere police force in 2008 after the Orange County Sheriff’s Office fired him for falsifying records. Last week, Windermere police Chief Daniel Saylor, 44, was arrested and charged with derailing a child-sexual-battery investigation against his friend Scott Bush, 50.
The Windermere Town Council has called a special meeting for Wednesday at 7 p.m. to discuss the police-chief scandal.