Angry charges creates angry response at Tuesday's town council meeting

Things got a little testy at Tuesday night's town council meeting when a resident and Sheriff Capt. Steven McLean went head-to-head about allegations of police abuse.

Ryan Eggers, who identified himself as an engineer on the Mars Rover project for JPL, said he felt "compelled to address police misconduct and abuse."  Passing out a multi-page complaint to the town council, he said that he was "victimized" during a stop by deputies, and laid out a four point proposal which included having cameras on radio cars and having a supervisor confirm in the field if arrests were necessary.

A heated McLean said that he hadn't read the documents, but -- reciting statistics that the complaints were down 50% and force against suspects down 60% -- he "takes exception" to Egger's charges that deputies were "out of control."

"You need to do your homework, sir," McLean said.

Some councilmembers responded by saying that the council needed to be a forum where people could speak their minds, and McLean apologized to Eggers, admitting "you've touched a nerve with me."

Sheriff Lt. Joseph Dempsey said that Eggers had filed a complaint, and and if he didn't like the result, there was a several-step process.

Eggers had not responded to our request for a copy of his complaint letter by press time.