The day following a tumultuous fiscal court meeting turned even darker on Wednesday after a meeting between County Judge Executive Larry Russell Bryant and several sheriff deputies turned confrontational.
The Community Voice spoke with several sources Wednesday to confirm the chain of events. The morning started with Sheriff Josh Brockman notifying Bryant of his plans to retire and resign from his position effective Oct. 1.
Brockman planned to keep the decision quiet with plans to make a public announcement next week. He notified his staff, however, and Bryant. The county judge has legal authority to appoint a sheriff if the sheriff’s position becomes vacant in between elections.
Four sheriff deputies followed later in the day to speak with Bryant and ask him to consider Chief Deputy Brandon Hitch for the appointment. Instead, according to those deputies, Bryant cussed them, belittled their work, and told them they should quit their jobs and he would bring in Kentucky State Police officers to run the department.
Deputy Josh Durbin was one the officers in the meeting. Durbin has since applied for a position in a neighboring county and expects to start there soon. The decision, he said, was not an easy one.
“This is my county, my home. I like doing what I do because this is where I grew up and was raised. There's just no comparison to other places,” he said.
Durbin received media attention in December 2020 when he responded to a call in the county by himself and was attacked by two men while trying to take one of them into custody. Durbin was knocked to the ground and the men tried to disarm him. Durbin was able to call for help, but the incident led to discussions about how deputies are often alone when they are required to respond to calls.
Durbin said he is leaving the job he loves for one reason only.
“It’s all Larry Russell Bryant.”
Durbin, Hitch and deputies Emily Wall and Derek Padgett went to visit Bryant together.
Deputies said they expected to ask Bryant to consider Hitch for the sheriff’s appointment and expected a civil conversation.
“We thought it would be a, ‘I will consider your input…’ He wouldn’t even let us talk,” Padgett said. Padgett hasn’t decided his future since the meeting, but said he was offered two jobs that pay more than Adair County within an hour after meeting with Bryant. One call came from a law enforcement agency from another county where someone watched the previous night’s fiscal court meeting.
“I love to work here,” Padgett said. “I don’t know. My status is undecided.”
Padgett said the whole atmosphere of the meeting surprised him.
“I just didn’t think it would go that way. I thought he backed us. You know, he acted like he cared about this office, but it was just to push his tax. I see that now,” Padgett said.
The officers said Bryant’s verbal attack was filled with profanity and some of it made no sense. He brought up a stolen motorcycle and blamed them because it was never recovered. He also blamed them for drug use in the county. Officer Wall found that ironic, especially since two of the officers had just come from court for a big meth case they worked.
“He said he was ready to get someone new in there, and we don’t do our damned jobs, that we are too scared to do our damned jobs, and that’s not true or we wouldn’t be here today,” Wall said.
Wall is the newest officer in the department, having been there for a year and three months. She begins training for certification next month.
The officers made it clear that Bryant’s treatment of them was offensive, and the malicious things he said shocked them.
“It was disrespectful to everyone in this office,” Durbin said.
“He accused us of not doing our job; none are worth having. That’s what he meant when he said you all can quit tonight and I will have the State Police cover it,” Padgett said. “For some of us who have been here for 10 years, it’s the upmost disrespectful I’ve ever been treated, by far, and that’s saying something. I deal with some of your worst. I see the worst in everybody on most calls I go to.”
Bryant was yelling and started telling Durbin to hit him, a move Bryant made during a public gathering a few weeks ago (full disclosure, this writer is one of the people he said that to; the other is my husband). He also told Durbin he was going to send him “to the pokey.”
“He is blocking his chair, saying hit me, hit me. Take your gun off and hit me,” Durbin said.
Bryant told the deputies he plans to appoint Jailer Jamie Richard as sheriff and Buddy Powell as jailer. Durbin and the other deputies said they have no problem with Richard being appointed, and the whole issue had nothing to do with Bryant’s plans.
“I would have given Jamie a chance. I like Jamie. I’ve got nothing against him,” Durbin said.
But having your county judge executive tell you that you are not valued puts a lot of weight on a person’s shoulders, and these officers are now weighing their options.
After deputies left Bryant’s office and returned to the sheriff’s office upstairs, tax clerk Suzanne Rogers decided to talk with Bryant in hopes to bring reconciliation. Rogers said she has been successful talking with the county judge in the past and thought she could help.
Instead, it was more of the same, with Bryant telling her she was old and should retire from her job. He suggested he could bring all new staff in to run the office.
Officers were quick to compliment Sheriff Josh Brockman, who has been known to work multiple consecutive shifts and carried a lot of the work of the office himself. Brockman sent a release Wednesday evening announcing his retirement.
“I think he would bend over backward for any of us any time we need him to. If we have problems or considerations, he will always listen to us and see what he can do to fix the problem,” Wall said.
That was just the opposite of the reception they received at Bryant’s office.
“We went peacefully and thought we might have a voice and at least be considered,” Padgett said. “It went way downhill.”
