PINAC identified the Georgia police detective who flew into a tirade when a homeowner told him he couldn’t search his house without a warrant.
His name is Jason Woods of the Valdosta Police Department.
With a little internet sleuthing and a few tips from locals, we were able to connect the dots between Wood’s brother’s Facebook page to his mother’s Facebook page where she had pictures posted of her sons despite the fact that department refused to release his name.
But we sat on that information for a day because we wanted to give the Valdosta Police Chief Brian Childress a chance to confirm his detective’s name over a telephone conversation, which he had refused to do since a video of the incident went viral last week.
Surprisingly, he did just that.
Childress also revealed the disciplinary action he took against Woods after he saw the video, which he also initially refused to disclose, citing personnel issues.
“I’ll tell you what I did. I reprimanded him. And told him if he did it again, I’d fire him,” he said during the telephone interview with Photography is Not a Crime.
Woods was given a written reprimand (seen below) for trying to enter Earl and Cynthia Cannady’s home without a warrant, then going into a profanity-laden temper tantrum when he was denied entrance.
Childress said the incident took place after police received a tip that somebody at the Cannady residence was involved in drug activity, which, of course, would still require a warrant to search the home.
Nevertheless, Childress acknowledged that neither Earl or Cynthia Cannady were involved in drug activity, but perhaps somebody who had been visiting them.
When Valdosta Police received the tip, they showed up at the Cannady’s home and Detective Jason Woods peeked his head inside of their son’s bedroom window and asked, “what are you guys doing?’’
Cannady’s son replied, “whoa! what?”
Detective Woods said, “shut up! what are you doing?”
“Who are you?” ask Cannady’s son.
The son then informed his father the cops were at the door.
Since they’d just gotten home from Walmart, Earl and Cynthia Cannady, both licensed weapons carriers, didn’t have time to unholster the guns they carry on a daily basis before they answered the door.
When Earl Cannady opened the door, Detective Woods became alarmed, took a step towards him and asked, “why do you have a gun?”
“Because I’m at my house,” responded Earl Cannady.
“Why do you have a gun? If you don’t like the fact that I carry a gun, you can leave. I don’t even know why you’re here.”
At that point, Earl Cannady shut the door, walked to a bedroom, picked up his smart phone and began recording before he walked back to the door.
Earl Cannady initially complied with Woods’ questioning, but said he became upset when Detective Woods accused his wife of being involved with drugs because one of her family members had been suspected in the past.
“I don’t even talk to my family. This is my family right here,” said Cynthia Cannady.
That’s when Detective Woods told the Cannadys their home was under investigation.
“We are here for a drug investigation. Either you can go along with us, alright . . . do you mind if we search your house?”
“You ain’t searching shit,” Cannady said. “Do you have a warrant?”
“Bet I can go get one.”
“Bye.”
As Woods began to leave, Earl Cannady walked behind him defending their innocence.
“Now if you got a problem with those kids, you take it up with those kids, but I’m going to tell you something right now, you don’t got a fucking investigation on me….”
That’s when Detective Woods became even more angry and accused Mr. Cannady of having the nerve to cuss at him because he was emboldened by his licensed weapon.
Number one, you’re going to quit fucking cussing at me,” said Woods.
“You’re at my house.”
“I don’t give a fuck if I’m at your house or not, you ain’t going to talk to me like that, you understand me?”
“But you’re here telling me I sell drugs….”
“I think you’re getting too close,” said Earl Cannady.
“I don’t give a fuck what you think I’m fixing to do. But you aint gonna come out here squaring up on me, cuz . . .you aint gonna square up on me!”
“I don’t care if you’re carrying that side-piece on you or not,” the warrantless detective said about Mr. Cannady’s legal gun.
“I need you to calm down.”
“No, I need you to sit there and shut your mouth. I don’t care if you record me, but you aint gonna square up on me thinking you’re gonna carry a gun.”
Mrs. Cannady then said, “you’re just . . . you’re getting a little too aggressive.”
“You can call it what you want.”
As Detective Woods began to leave for the second time, officers at the scene appear embarrased about his outburst.
Yet they did nothing to defuse the situation. They didn’t intervene to calm down their enraged comrade.
During our chat with the chief, he expressed his feelings and implied that PINAC, and other media outlets like us, should give police the courtesy of calling them and presenting their side of the story.
But we pointed out at least four Valdosta local news outlets that never called Earl and Cynthia Cannady to get their side.
We pride ourselves as a news outlet that reports a story despite how it impacts our “access” to a department’s narrative.
That’s mainstream media’s job; we do things differently at PINAC.
Update: We included a copy of the written reprimand below after we received a copy through an open records request.
(Above: random Facebook photo we found last night upon positive confirmation of Woods’ identity.)
The post Enraged Georgia Cop Identified and Disciplined with Verbal Warning appeared first on PINAC News.