After appeal and review, a prior disciplinary action taken against a Crossville police officer has been lessened. City Manager Greg Wood has officially reduced Crossville Police Sergeant Tim Vandever’s written reprimand to verbal counseling.

The reprimand was issued after an incident on I-40 ended with a Lantana Road man being charged with misdemeanor reckless driving. During the incident, the driver was said to be driving erratically and subsequently dumped at least six 20-oz. sodas from his moving vehicle onto Vandever’s car, creating a messy and potentially hazardous condition.

Vandever appealed to the city’s personnel board for mitigation of the disciplinary action.

According to reports, when Vandever – who was off duty at the time – could not get officers to respond, he followed the driver home, where he allegedly engaged in a verbal confrontation with him and his parents. Meanwhile Vandever’s wife remained on the phone with dispatchers.

Arriving on the scene, Cumberland County sheriff’s deputies cited the soda-dumping driver for reckless driving. At that point the driver’s mother lodged a complaint against Vandever, claiming he behaved in an unprofessional manner on private property and exercised poor judgment.

The since-rescinded written reprimand stated in part, “This incident could have had tragic results for everyone involved and you could have been viewed as the aggressor.”

While Wood conceded Vandever did put himself at “a tactical disadvantage,” he noted Vandever had a reasonable expectation that officers would respond.

In issuing his decision, Wood noted dispatch recordings had not been reviewed at the time of the reprimand. A statement from him read, “the proper procedure, according to department policy, was not followed to document and investigate the complaint, [therefore] I am reducing the reprimand to verbal counseling.”