Trayvon Martin Sanford commission: Sanford city commissioners will move Trayvon Martin meeting to civic center to handle crowds - Orlando Sentinel

Trayvon Martin Sanford commission: Sanford city commissioners will move Trayvon Martin meeting to civic center to handle crowds - Orlando Sentinel:

Trayvon Martin case: Sanford commission votes 'no confidence' in police chief

7:55 p.m. EST, March 21, 2012|

By Martin E. Comas and Susan Jacobson, Orlando Sentinel

 

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Sanford city commissioners have voted "no confidence" in police Chief Bill Lee Jr., who has been publicly lambasted for his department's handling of the Trayvon Martin shooting.

Commissioner Mark McCarty made the motion to fire the chief, who has been on the job just 10 months. Mayor Jeff Triplett and Commissioner Velma Williams voted with the majority.

"I take no pleasure in a publicl flogging of our police chief," McCarty said before a packed house. "But he really should turn in his resignation."

The vote was 3-2, with Commissioners Randy Jones and Patty Mahany voting against.

"A rush to judgment is wrong," said Mahany, who called the vote a "knee-jerk reaction."

Lee, 52, was hired as chief in May 2011 in the wake of criticism from the black community surrounding the beating of a homeless black man by the son of