Maranda Faris

The Jackson Sun

A Jackson police officer with a lengthy disciplinary record was charged with assaulting his girlfriend Friday.

Gregory Slack, 46, is accused of assaulting his girlfriend and holding her against her will at his Murray Guard apartment.

Jackson Police Department spokesman Lt. Derick Tisdale said Slack has been placed on paid leave pending the outcome of the case. Slack is a sergeant, and has been with the department since 1993, Tisdale said.

Slack's personnel file shows that he was promoted to sergeant in 2001.

His file also shows that he was suspended without pay in 1994 after an internal investigation showed he had used chemical spray and hit a suspect who was "under control" after a foot chase. Slack also had written reprimands for six car wrecks involving patrol cars, losing or damaging city equipment, and failing to appear for court cases, according to documents in his file.

His file shows reprimands for wrecks including backing into a street sign, rear-ending vehicles while on patrol, and opening the door of a patrol car into a moving vehicle during a traffic stop.

He also left a city camera unattended, which resulted in a written reprimand, according to his file.

Slack did not appear for two court cases, for which he was subpoenaed in July 2002 and January 2003. In the 2002 reprimand, Slack said he wrote the court date down wrong, and in 2003 said he had taken a holiday and forgot about court. He was suspended one day for the 2003 failure to appear.

Slack is now accused of assaulting his girlfriend while she was in his apartment on Murray Guard on July 1.

Court documents say Slack met with officers, where the assault was reported to have taken place, while he was sitting in a car alone, on the phone with a woman identified as his girlfriend. Slack gave the phone to officers and allowed them to speak with the woman, according to court documents.

According to court documents, when police asked if she was injured, she told officers, "I don't want anyone to see me like this."

Not guilty plea for Englewood intern

Slack took the phone back from officers and put the woman on speaker phone, when she told Slack "I had to call someone ... You were hitting me," court documents say.

Police said Slack took the phone off speaker and rolled up the window of the car he was in, according to court documents.

Investigators spoke with the woman later at her home and noticed injuries on her face, neck, arms, and legs, court documents say. Court documents do not say when investigators spoke with the woman. She was not at Slack's apartment when she spoke with police, according to court documents.

Council denies Wiley Parker development

The woman told police that "something happened," and she did not want to talk about it, but that she had called a friend about an assault, according to court documents. She told police her friend called 911.

Tennessee law reads that the preferred course of action for police is to arrest a person after determining the primary aggressor in incidents of domestic violence. Court documents show the initial assault was reported Friday night around 10:45 p.m., but Slack was not taken into custody at that time.

Tisdale said he could not comment on why Slack's arrest came four days after the incident was reported. Jail records show Slack was booked into the Madison County Criminal Justice Complex around 5 a.m. Tuesday and released at 9 a.m.

Tisdale said he did not know whether Slack was arrested or if he turned himself in to police.

Reach Maranda at (731) 425-9657. Follow her on Twitter: @MarandaFaris