A Nitro police officer who threatened several people with a handgun in July, seen in a video shared widely on social media, has been fired from the department.
Capt. Richard Foster was fired last week, Nitro Police Chief Bobby Eggleton said. Foster, who had more than 10 years of service with the department, still faces a misdemeanor charge of brandishing over the incident. But Eggleton said regardless of the outcome of the criminal case, he believed Foster should be fired.
"Through our internal investigation, we find him guilty of - I find him guilty of - two violations of policies and procedures," Eggleton said. "Which, one is the conduct unbecoming, you know, and then the other is the safety violation of a firearm."
Starting on July 13, more than 4,000 Facebook users shared a video of Foster holding a handgun to his side and yelling at two men.
Foster, 49, was off duty when he confronted then men outside a Charleston home on Berry Hills Drive.
The men were arguing with a woman, who said they had blocked the road while moving a trailer onto an empty lot, according according to a criminal complaint filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court.
One of them men told her to "get the hell out of the road," and she went home after "words were exchanged," the complaint states.
Foster later emerged from a nearby home. According to the complaint, he pointed a handgun at someone in a nearby truck.
The 60-second cellphone video starts after Foster turned his attention to the two men.
"You're not going to talk to my mother like that - I promise you right now," he said to the men.
Foster soon turned himself in to the Kanawha County Sheriff's Office after deputies obtained a warrant for brandishing.
The police department then stripped Foster of his service weapon, cruiser and police identification.
Eggleton said Foster could still appeal his firing through a three-step process that begins with the department's internal review board.
"I think Captain Foster was a valuable member of this police department, and he will be missed," Eggleton said. "But I, as the chief, can't turn a blind eye to inappropriate behavior."
Reach Giuseppe Sabella at giuseppe.sabella@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5189 or follow @Gsabella on Twitter.