Vincent Crump, who was hired by the Tallahassee Police Department in January of 2017 after spending nearly 12 years as a captain with the Gadsden County Sheriff’s Office, was fired on Sunday by that department after a female motorist accused him of sexual assault during a traffic stop on Saturday night.
Tallahassee Police Department Chief Michael DeLeo, in a short news conference Sunday morning announcing Crump’s firing, said: “Based on the evidence so far, Officer Crump has betrayed the values of our agency and the public’s trust.”
Crump initiated the stop of the woman, according to documents obtained by the Tallahassee Democrat, because of a vehicle equipment violation.
He stopped the woman at 9:27 p.m. near the intersection of Thomasville Road and Hermitage Boulevard.
The traffic stop reportedly lasted about 20 minutes.
The motorist was given a verbal warning, according to police department call notes.
The victim then called 911 at about 11:10 p.m. to report that she’d been sexually battered by a Tallahassee Police Department officer, who was later identified as Crump. The alleged victim is a 21-year-old woman with a Monticello address.
While in Gadsden County, Crump worked most recently at the Gadsden Correctional Facility in Quincy.
Major Robert Barkley of the Gadsden Correctional Facility told the Tallahassee Democrat that Crump left work at the jail simply for a “better-paying job.”
Barkley said he never heard complaints about Crump’s job performance or behavior while the two worked together.
“He was always a hard worker, he followed instructions well, and to my knowledge did his job very well,” Barkley said.
Crump was involved, though, in the 2014 case in which Gadsden County Sheriff Morris Young was found in contempt of court because of a practice of inmate furloughs from the jail.
In some cases, dangerous felons were allowed out of the jail (sometimes unsupervised for hours) to attend family functions or to meet women at motel rooms.
Crump was a witness in the case and was named in charging documents after he caught an inmate returning to the jail with marijuana and tobacco.
Crump did not face any disciplinary action for those actions, and no complaints or internal investigations were initiated against him while he was at the Gadsden County Sheriff’s Office, according to the agency.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Crump, though fired, has not been arrested and there has been no determination on criminal charges against him.
State Attorney Jack Campbell said he was notified about the case early Sunday morning prior to the news conference.
Campbell didn’t want to comment on what the Tallahassee Police Department did by firing Crump, but said his office was working with the department to determine if there’s evidence of a crime and if so, what crime.
“I think that investigators are moving with all deliberate speed, and I’d rather get it right than get it fast,” Campbell said.
Campbell said it is rare a case gets to his office nearly 12 hours after it is reported.
“There are a lot of crimes that are investigated for weeks, months or years before my office gets involved,” Campbell said.
Campbell wasn’t sure when his investigation will wrap up, but said it shouldn’t be longer than a month.
By Randall Lieberman
randall@prioritynews.net