NASHVILLE, Tennessee –
A former Tennessee state trooper went missing after being convicted of misdemeanor assault on a charge of removing a protester’s face mask during the COVID-19 pandemic in August 2020.
In a Facebook post Monday, Columbia police said 54-year-old Harvey Briggs was last seen in the city on Oct. 1, the day after receiving a six-month probation sentence, and that He was driving a black 2015 Ford Fusion. He pleaded no contest to the assault charge on September 15.
Before leaving, Briggs made “several troubling statements” to his family and they have not heard from him since, police said. Police are asking anyone with additional information to contact them. They did not provide details of Briggs’s comments to his family.
In addition, Briggs “appeared upset about his parole and verbally expressed his displeasure to the (parole) officer,” Tennessee Department of Correction spokeswoman Dorinda Carter said.
The terms of Briggs’ parole require that he receive permission from his parole officer to leave the county where he lives. Dana McLendon, a defense attorney for Briggs, declined to comment Tuesday.
At an August 2021 hearing in Nashville, prosecutors relied on testimony from a fellow police officer who saw Briggs remove the mask of protester Andrew Golden at the state Capitol complex.
Prosecutors played Golden’s widely released recording of the encounter, which shows Golden’s mask on the ground but did not capture Briggs removing it, and when Golden said the officer removed his mask, Briggs denied doing so on camera.
The meeting between Briggs and Golden occurred as lawmakers reconvened inside the state Capitol for a session in which they passed legislation that threatens felony charges for protesters camping on state property amid the sustained protest over justice. race across the country. The other officer, Brian Carmouche, said he and another officer were heading to a traffic stop before seeing Briggs remove Golden’s mask.
Golden was filming the traffic stop when Briggs, who was nearby but not involved, scolded Golden for swearing and told him not to “get in the way” of the scene.
The video shows Briggs, without a mask, approaching Golden’s face. Golden then tells the camera that Briggs took off his mask and shows the mask on the ground nearby. “I didn’t,” Briggs replies. “I’m tired of you guys making things up.”
Briggs was fired and criminally charged after his encounter with the protester. He has sued the state for firing him. That case is still active.
Briggs’ termination notice as a soldier also says security footage of the incident from the nearby Tennessee State Library and Archives supports the claim that Briggs removed Golden’s mask.
In the lawsuit challenging Briggs’ firing, his attorney repeats Briggs’ claim that he did not remove Golden’s mask, saying “he did not appear in the video or in videos from cameras located at various structures in the area of Capitol parking lot.
Surveillance footage of the incident provided by the state Department of Homeland Security and Safety is grainy, but appears to show Briggs’ arm reaching toward Golden’s face, causing Golden to stumble backwards.
Briggs’ personnel file shows that during his 22-year career with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, he had been suspended for 17 days without pay for various infractions prior to the mask incident.