JUNE 2011, Augusta, Georgia—Thomson Mayor Kenneth Usry denied doing anything improper in an incident involving an city employee driving a city-owned vehicle while intoxicated.

Thomson Public Works employee Scott Huff has been suspended from his job for 10 days for driving a city vehicle after drinking—and the mayor has come under fire for his role. In an interview with The McDuffie Mirror, Mayor Usry said he did nothing to prevent Huff's arrest. "By no means was I trying to bypass the police." He said he drove Huff home in the city vehicle because "that was not the place for him to be." He said was concerned for Huff's safety as well as that of others at the recent storm scene.

Thomson Police Chief Joe Nelson said the mayor's intervention made a DUI arrest impossible. "The integrity of the investigation was compromised the minute he left," Nelson said, because no Breathalyzer or blood-alcohol test had been performed. "There was no way we could be certain," Nelson said. When the officers on the scene confronted Huff, he asked to speak with the mayor, who had just arrived.

Mayor Usry says he was driving the neighborhoods to inspect storm damage when he noticed Huff talking with police. Usry said he realized the officers' concerns. "I, too, thought I smelled alcohol on Huff," the mayor wrote. Police administered a field sobriety test. After, the mayor told Huff he was going to take him home.

Police reports say officers told Mayor Usry that Huff had driven up in a city vehicle and was driving over the legal limit. The mayor said that it had not been determined whether Huff was over the legal limit because no scientific test had been administered. In his statement today, the mayor said, "For this violation, Huff has been reprimanded and suspended by the city for 10 days and must meet certain requirements prior to returning to work. His actions were unacceptable and a clear violation of our city policies I have the utmost respect for all of our city employees. My immediate concern was for the safety of everyone present at the scene."

Mayor Usry can be heard on a patrol car video telling police that he will deal with an employee who police say was drunk when he drove a city vehicle to a storm-damage site Saturday night. At the scene Usry can be heard telling Patrolman Keith Smith, "I'm going to deal with it, OK?" Officers tell the mayor that they have received numerous complaints about Huff's drinking, and the mayor replies, "He drinks all the time."

"I don't normally get in the middle of it," Mayor Usry tells Officer Smith.

"Yes, sir, I understand," the officer says.

"But when it comes to one of y'all employees," Usry says, "I'm going to deal with you."

"And that might be the best way to deal with this," the officer says.

"I don't know if that's the right way, but we're going to deal with it in my way,"