A Texas sheriff’s deputy from a neighbouring force who was sent to assist the Uvalde police department last month following the massacre that left 19 children and two teachers dead has been fired after he was arrested for public intoxication.
The Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office announced this week that Christopher Lofton was no longer an employee of the force and has been “permanently relieved of his duties” after the force conducted an internal investigation into the 2 June incident where the then-deputy was drunk enough to be considered “a danger to himself and others”.
“Deputy Lofton was off-duty at the time of the incident and immediately removed from the Uvalde assignment and due to his erratic behaviour was arrested for Public Intoxication by Uvalde County local law enforcement,” the statement from Sheriff Bo Stallman read.
The two-year veteran of the department was sent to help the Uvalde police department on 31 May and was part of a team of eight patrol deputies and two dispatchers who were responding to a state-wide call for assistance after one of the deadliest school shootings in US history ripped through Robb Elementary School.
On 4 June, the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office reported on how the deputy had been charged and placed in custody after the 2 June incident, which reportedly occurred at temporary living quarters in Uvalde County.
Authorities say that Mr Lofton was immediately relieved of his duties after the internal investigation concluded that he had violated multiple department policies, without disclosing which specific policies the officer had broken.
The Independent has reached out to the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office for comment on the case.
Mr Lofton’s termination arrives as Texas law enforcement official across the state have come under intense scrutiny for the how slow they acted in response to taking down the teenage armed gunman who opened fire on the fourth-grade class in Uvalde and murdered 21 victims.
Uvalde schools district police chief, Pete Arredondo, who has received a lion’s share of the blame for the force’s slow response, recently provided his first extended interview on his account of what happened as that deadly day unfolded.
While speaking to the Texas Tribune, the police chief rebutted the claims that have been levelled against him for being the officer on-the-ground responsible for directing officers’ response.
Mr Arredondo, speaking to the Tribune through his lawyer, George E Hyde, told the news outlet that he never considered himself the scene’s incident commander, nor did he provide any instruction that police should not attempt to breach the school.
“I didn’t issue any orders,” he said, while emphasising that he and his colleagues did what they could based on the information available to them at the time of the mass shooting.
“Not a single responding officer ever hesitated, even for a moment, to put themselves at risk to save the children,” Mr Arredondo said.
By the Uvalde mayor’s request, the police department’s response is now under review by the Department of Justice.
“The goal of the review is to provide an independent account of law enforcement actions and responses that day, and to identify lessons learned and best practices to help first responders prepare for and respond to active shooter events,” spokesman Anthony Coley said in a statement last month. “The review will be conducted with the Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing.”
