Poplarville Police Capt. Jimmy Steinkamp recently approached the Poplarville Board of Aldermen to request that his suspension issued in mid April be rescinded.

At the April 3 Board meeting, Poplarville resident Rodney Taylor came before the Board to issue a complaint about a recent interaction with Steinkamp, previous coverage states. In late March, Taylor’s son was involved in a fight with a man with a gun at a local gas station, which led to several shots being fired in front of the business. The man who initially had the gun fled the scene and police arrived to question Taylor’s son. Taylor claimed that during this interaction, he and his son were both treated unprofessionally by Steinkamp and asked the Board to take action, coverage states.

After an investigation by Police Chief Butch Raby, it was decided at the April 17 Board meeting that Steinkamp would be suspended for three shifts without pay, previous coverage states. A public apology was also issued to Taylor by the Board on behalf of the city of Poplarville, coverage states.

Adelman & Steen, LLP attorney Michael Adelman, said that on June 19, he and Steinkamp came before the Board to request his suspension be rescinded. Their position was that Steinkamp had done nothing wrong and that there was insufficient evidence to prove otherwise. They presented the Board with a tape recording of the incident as supporting evidence, Adelman said.  After some discussion, a decision was made in response to Steinkamp’s request. Mayor Rossie Creel said, after coming out of closed session at the July 3 Aldermen meeting, the Board decided to deny the request. 

“I don’t understand why he was suspended. There’s no evidence to show he did anything wrong. There was a gun involved. He diffused what could have been a dangerous situation,” Adelman said.

Raby said that after further investigation into the matter, it was decided that neither party involved in the fight at the station would be arrested. Rather, he said if the men chose, they could take the matter up amongst themselves in municipal court by filing a civil suit.  Adelman said he didn’t understand why Steinkamp was the only one being punished in this situation because Steinkamp was the one who diffused a dangerous situation, yet he was the only one penalized.

Steinkamp declined to comment.