Accused officer, NCPD part ways

Christine Phinney parted ways with the North Charleston Police Department on Tuesday, but officials won't say whether she was fired or resigned in the wake of a Christmas Eve pursuit in which she tussled with a sheriff's deputy.

Police Chief Jon Zumalt said personnel policies prevent him from discussing the reasons for Phinney's departure. But he was not pleased with what he saw on police videotapes of the Dec. 24 confrontation, he said.

"I reviewed the tape, and that's not what we are about -- developing trust in the community," he said.

Phinney, 41, reportedly led officers on a brief chase through Summerville after they spotted her allegedly speeding on Central Avenue in a BMW. She later pulled over and scuffled with a Dorchester County sheriff's deputy on Hawthorne Avenue. Deputies cited the off-duty officer for reckless driving and disorderly conduct, but she avoided a trip to jail.

Phinney was due in court Monday, but the case got bumped until late February due to routine scheduling conflicts, her lawyer, Robby Robbins, has said.

Phinney was placed on administrative office duty after the incident, and Zumalt had planned to wait until the court case was resolved before deciding how to discipline the officer. When the case was postponed, however, he decided he needed to go ahead and resolve the matter "because of the concerns of the community and the department," he said.

"I didn't want to delay this any further," he said.

Neither Robbins nor Phinney, who has an unlisted phone number, could be reached for comment late Tuesday.

The case sparked outrage in the community over Phinney's conduct that evening.

On police videotapes of the incident, Phinney can be heard telling Deputy Mike Files that she would give a fellow officer a free pass for speeding and that the deputy would "have a much bigger problem" when her husband arrived.

Her husband, Tony Phinney, is a lieutenant at the Sheriff's Office.

On the tape, Files stated he was arresting her for resisting arrest and questioned how much she had to drink. The resisting charge was never filed, and Phinney's blood-alcohol level wasn't tested.

Officials have said that final charges are at an officer's discretion and that deputies might later have decided that a resisting count wasn't warranted.

Also, deputies need probable cause to file a charge before conducting a Breathalyzer test, and they said Phinney did not show signs of impairment.