Pepper wants large police presence at council meetings or will use 'Second Amendment rights'
Feb. 8—Councilman Hunter Pepper wants more police security and is threatening to exercise his "Second Amendment rights" if he doesn't get it at future Decatur City Council meetings.
Pepper made the request Thursday in an email to Council President Jacob Ladner, Police Chief Todd Pinion, Mayor Tab Bowling and City Attorney Herman Marks.
"Chief, I'm requesting a large police presence at EVERY meeting," Pepper wrote. "If these requests can't be met, I will exercise my Second Amendment right openly and willfully. If you can't handle it, don't think I won't."
The Second Amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms.
Pepper has been out of town on a temporary job assignment as an emergency medical technician since September.
He returned for the Jan. 6 meeting and created an uproar when he voiced his support for police chases. Pepper had a conversation with Reginald McKenzie, the grandfather of Jaiden DeJarnett, a 16-year-old who was chased by law enforcement at high speeds and across two counties until he crashed and died on Sept. 4, 2023.
Pepper wrote in Thursday's email, "After that conversation, some became agitated and began to threaten myself with physical violence. This continued in the parking lot of City Hall."
About a half dozen people surrounded Pepper's vehicle, cursing at him and attempting to block him from leaving. He said the following day that a threat to call police dispatch made the people move so he could leave.
"This behavior is unacceptable and, with zero police presence after the meeting, I feel it's time to protect myself and ask you all to do the same," he wrote.
Pepper then mentions two people by name "and any other who is threatening violence against myself or any others, should not and will not be tolerated."
"Mr. Ladner, it's time to step up and stop allowing this atrocious behavior," Pepper wrote.
Pepper told The Decatur Daily on Friday that he plans to return to Decatur soon, but then he has to leave again to complete his temporary assignment. He expects to be back full time this spring.
In response to Pepper's email, Pinion and Bowling said the issue falls under Ladner as council president.
"This is absolutely a Jacob Ladner question," Pinion said. "This is his meeting. I don't know why (Ladner) doesn't follow Robert's Rules of Order. He's made it pretty clear this is how he's going to run the meetings."
Pinion said Pepper didn't call 911 during the post-meeting conflict with protesters.
Bowling said in response to Pepper's threat, "It would be a bad idea to bring a gun here to City Hall."
The public is prohibited from carrying weapons on city property or into City Hall. Visitors go through metal detectors run by security guards when entering the building.
Ladner said most of Pepper's Jan. 6 complaint occurred in the parking lot.
"I don't have any jurisdiction over that area," Ladner said Friday. "Whenever he gets to the parking lot, he will have to deal with whoever controls that area."
Pepper said the threats occurred both in the meeting and afterward outside of City Hall.
Ladner said he has been to most of the council meetings in his four and a half years on the council, and he's "never felt not secure," even during the often contentious meetings of the last 16 months following the fatal Decatur police shooting of Steve Perkins.
Meanwhile, Ladner pointed out that Pepper has been to two meetings since Oct. 28.
"I know he wants some things done but he doesn't even attend the meetings," Ladner said. "When he does attend, he's the one who turns up the rhetoric and causes that reaction."
Bowling and Pinion said they will meet about safety issues before Pepper returns.
— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432
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