One incident. Two different accounts.

In July 2014, Cadeau was working another off-duty security job, this one at Wet Willie’s on Piedmont Road, when he helped break up a bar fight. His shifting versions of what happened nearly cost him his job.

Documents from the Office of Professional Standards obtained by The AJC through an open records request show Cadeau had called APD for help with the scuffle.

Two officers dispatched to the scene encountered several patrons with burns on their faces who told them Cadeau deployed his pepper spray. Cadeau repeatedly told both officers he did not, suggesting his canister may have burst while in his holster. (He would later tell OPS investigators he didn’t remember telling the responding officers that the spray leaked out.)

When asked by one of the officers why his pepper spray canister was half-empty, Cadeau responded, “Now that I think about it, I did deploy my (Oleoresin Capsaicin) spray,” claiming he was under attack from a patron, the OPS documents reveal.

Supervisors up the chain of command concurred Cadeau had violated APD Work Rule 4.1.3 requiring truthfulness from officers “in their written and spoken words at all times,” according to his OPS file. With his dismissal imminent, Cadeau successfully appealed his case to Chief Turner, and in March 2015 he was informed the complaint against him was not sustained, meaning the OPS investigation “did not develop sufficient information to prove or disprove the allegation.”

No explanation for the reversal was provided and Cadeau returned to work, unpunished.

The department’s policy manual requires moonlighting personnel to “comply with all Atlanta Police Department rules, regulations, orders, and policies and procedures while working extra jobs.”

“I don’t have the benefit of knowing what information Sergeant Cadeau provided to Chief Turner that allowed him to keep his job,” said Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields, who succeeded Turner at the first of this year. “I feel confident in saying Chief Turner did not take any disciplinary hearing lightly.”

A History of Complaints

Cadeau’s temperament had come under scrutiny before. Four use of force complaints were lodged against him from 2013 to 2014, though only one was sustained.

That incident, also involving pepper spray, occurred just one month before the Wet Willie’s fight. Cadeau admitted spraying a suspect who was handcuffed and secured to a bench inside APD’s Zone 2 Precinct. He said he did so after the suspect shouted an off-color comment at a female officer. His punishment? Two days suspension without pay.

“The department has opened an internal investigation on Sergeant Cadeau, which will certainly take into consideration the findings of the GBI, and will examine whether Cadeau’s actions were consistent with departmental policy,” Shields told The AJC on Friday. “A review of the disciplinary history is a component of this process where the facts require disciplinary action to be taken.”

Until then, Cadeau remains on paid administrative leave.