Atlantic Beach settles lawsuit against former police chief

ATLANTIC BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - A lawsuit between the town of Atlantic Beach and its former police chief has been settled.

Timothy Taylor served as the police chief for around three years before he was fired

The lawsuit, which was filed in February of 2018, said an internal audit of the town’s police department began shortly after charges of domestic violence were dismissed against Taylor on Oct. 20, 2017. Those charges stemmed from a September arrest by the Conway Police Department.

The audit alleged that $650 was missing from the evidence room.

Clay Hopkins, the attorney who represented Taylor, said his client was forced to resign after the charges of domestic violence were brought against him, despite him saying the charges had no merit.

Hopkins said Taylor refused to resign and the allegations were then made about the money turning up missing from evidence.

Now, the lawsuit has come to a close after the town of Atlantic Beach and Taylor decided to settle. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

“When Atlantic Beach alleged all of those things about me to the newspaper... and it was not true, so at that time, it made me had to take a stance and file a lawsuit against the town of Atlantic Beach. That’s something I didn’t want to have to do, was file a lawsuit against the town of Atlantic Beach, but they put me in a position to defend myself," Taylor said.

This isn’t the only lawsuit the former police chief has filed after he said he was wrongfully arrested and his position was terminated. There’s now a pending lawsuit against the city of Conway.

The lawsuit claims Taylor’s reputation was damaged after Conway police arrested him in September 2017, accusing him of unlawful neglect of a child and criminal domestic violence. A county magistrate judge later dismissed those charges for lack of probable cause, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also claims the arrest caused him emotional and psychological distress, as well as caused him to lose his employment. Taylor was fired from his position as police chief following the arrest.

Taylor is seeking an unspecified amount of monetary damages and relief as the court “may deem necessary,” the lawsuit states.

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