Standards, shmandards.

It is a pretty agreeable fact that by the time someone has been caught driving drunk they’ve gotten away with it numerous times. (It is likely that driving while intoxicated is habitual behavior for the offender.) On average, a convicted drunk driver has driven drunk 80 times before his or her first arrest, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

With the recent resignation of Deputy Vernon Johnson following an accident in his patrol car and hot urine sample, many concerned citizens are grumbling that law enforcement personnel in Richmond County are becoming a danger to the citizens they are hired to protect.

In another recent incident (which was non-alcohol related), a deputy attacked another deputy over who was going to administer CPR to a dying gunshot victim. While not drinking at the time, the impulsive nature of the attack is frightening.

Other area law enforcement departments don’t seem to have the volume of bad behavior that the Richmond County Sheriff Department’s officers have been demonstrating over the past two and a half years.

As the Insider has stated before, it appears the sheriff has a cultural problem on his hands. One where alcohol and aggressive behavior is having a very negative effect on the department.

Following are eight incidences of dangerous behavior by RCSO deputies since 2018.

February 2020: Deputy Brandon Keathley smashed fellow deputy Nicholas Nunes in the head, requiring stitches. They were apparently fighting over who should administer CPR on a shooting victim.

Deputy Brandon Keathley

February 2020: Deputy Vernon Johnson’s patrol car hydroplaned, went airborne and slammed into a culvert in Jasper County. He was transported to the hospital, and the results of a routine blood test led Johnson to abruptly quit. It hasn’t been made public what he was on at the time. The accident happened at approximately 5 PM on a school day.

May 2019: Deputy Travis Clark, already on probation for another off-duty incident where alcohol was listed as a contributing factor, was fired after having been involved in a drunken brawl with shots fired while working a special…while intoxicated.

April 2019: Investigator Ryan Jones was off duty, driving drunk in an unmarked county-owned car when he was arrested. He resigned from his job as a Richmond County investigator in the Narcotics Division after the incident.





April 2019: Deputy Jason McCall was arrested for battery, aggravated assault and cruelty to children in the third degree. He left his Martinez residence going to several bars before returning home very intoxicated and attacking the mother of one of his children while the child was present. While he was not charged with DUI, he clearly was driving drunk.

November 2018: Aaron Hannsz was arrested for DUI while driving his unmarked police car. He was stopped by the Georgia State Patrol while heading home from work. Riding shotgun in the cupholder was a mixed rum and coke.

November 2018: Deputy Adam Wade slammed into two parked cars on Broad Street and fled the scene while in his private car.