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Friday, June 3, 2016

EXCLUSIVE! Crossville City Hall Video of altercation between Councilman Jesse Kerley and Pete Souza released.

Jim Young Reporter has exclusively acquired the video from inside Crossville city hall that shows at least part of the altercation that occurred between two council members following a budget work session meeting on June 2, 2016.




In addition to the video, Crossville police chief Rod Shoap investigated the incident and portions of that report are below.

An investigation into the allegations of physical contact between two Crossville city council members, both up for reelection this fall has concluded by Crossville Police Chief Rod Shoap and no charges will result unless the men take out warrants on their own.

The video above includes the interaction between the two men though part of the video is shot from inside Crossville city hall through glass windows and doors making it difficult to see exactly what happened.

The video shows Councilman Jesse Kerley and his father Jerry Kerley, who is also the Director of Water Resources, waiting in the lobby. As Councilman Pete Souza comes down the stairs from the meeting Councilman Kerley speaks to him briefly and the three men step through the door and outside. The video shows the men separate and then come back together with arms flailing.

At this point a number of others from the meeting come through the door and Councilman Kerley and Souza reenter the building and go up the stairs where Crossville Police Chief Rod Shoap was. Others who were in the parking lot at the time of the incident also reenter the building and some spoke with Chief Shoap.

By this time things had calmed back down and a short time later both councilmen left city hall.

Crossville Police Chief Rod Shoap filed a report this afternoon that was released to the media. The report covered the incident on June 2 as well as an incident in February of this year when the two men bumped into each other behind the council desk after that meeting.

Excerpt from Chief Shoap's report of the incident reads: “At about 6:50 pm the meeting adjourned and an altercation took place by the exit doors located on the north side of city hall on the 2nd floor. Councilman Kerley and Councilman Souza are both complainants in the issue and both are requesting reports of the incident.

Jerry Kerley stated to me that as he exited the building, words were spoken between him and Councilman Souza. Councilman Kerley stated that Councilman Souza turned to Jerry Kerley and began raising his voice. At that point Councilman Kerley approached Councilman Souza and the altercation occurred.

Councilman Souza said that he was leaving the building, going through the door as Jerry Kerley said something to him. Councilman Souza turned to hear Jerry Kerley mention the painting of signs at which point he was trying to make a point about the signs when Councilman Kerley interrupted and the altercation took place.

This morning I reviewed the video that came from a camera at city hall that was pointed at the location of the incident. The video has no sound and it is difficult to determine what occurred outside the building. The video should speak for itself.

The incident is a misdemeanor, if in fact a crime, and both parties have been advised to seek a magistrate if they choose to prosecute.”  

4 comments:

  1. Is this the kind of men we want in office ?

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  2. What more proof do we need that Jesse Kerely bullies elderly people? Kerley is obviously anxious for Pete Souza to come out of the hallway. Then when he does watch closely at Kerley's left hand as he gestures for Pete to meet him outside. Notice ther is NO exchange from Souza. Then Kerely in typical bully fashion goes outside to wait for his prey. Pete maturely waits for Kerley go on as most of us would to prevent an escalation. Then as Souza proceeds out the door with caution Kerely starts taunting as is evident from Kerely's continued guesser as city employee and father Jerry Kerley crows Souza from behind. This is the same thing they did to JJ Thomas after a council meeting several weeks ago when the country singer spoke out against councilman Kirley.

    Then when Jesse Kerley walks away Souza exits the door only to see Kerley still at the bottom of the stairs looking to stalk him and provoke into a confrontation. Then Jerry Kerely (the father) crowd Pete Souza from behind. Notice Pete NEVER turns around to confront the father as stated in the police report. According to Councilman Kerley when abusing his authority against citizen Blankenship he claimed Blankenship's mom liked about her son's address (police said Kerely lied and they never were told a lie by her). So now that we can see Souza NEVER turned around in this video will the police use the same Class A Felony Kerley lied to have an innocent citizen and elderly woman convicted? She made the 5th elderly person Kerley has attempted to bully and Souza makes the 6th or 7th. Many more have stated privately they may now come forward to report their abuse by Jesse Kerley.

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    Replies
    1. If you watch the slow motion version posted today on this blog you can see where Souza turns and faces Jerry Kerley while they are both still standing in the outside of the two doors. Jesse Kerley had already stepped to the left of the door but turned around and came back as the Jerry and Pete spoke. That is my interpretation of what I saw on the video but unless either man files charges, there won't be any taken out by police.

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  3. There was no problems like this until three years ago, when Pedro Souza was elected to the city council, and it gets worse every year. It will not get any better until Souza is gone. We have fewer jobs in Crossville now than three years ago. Ficosa , over 500 jobs, down the mountain to Cookeville. Souza vs. SIMCOX for Tax Assessor.
    VOTE - SIMCOX - TAX ASSESSOR

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