Decommissioned Metro Officer Charged With Child Abuse

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Decommissioned Metro Officer Charged With Child Abuse

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Mug shot courtesy Metro Nashville Police Department

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Decommissioned Metro police officer Jeffrey Poole has been arrested after his teenage son said he was struck several times with a trophy during an argument.

According to a press release issued by the Metro Nashville Police Department, the heated argument happened at the family's Antioch home Thursday night.

Poole's 16-year-old son told investigators after the alleged assault he ran to a nearby friend's house and called police.

The teen was treated and released from Southern Hills Medical Center. The extent of his injuries was not released.

Poole was charged with aggravated child abuse and booked into jail. He was released on $10,000 bond.

The former officer was decommissioned in May 2010 and serving an administrative assignment after being accused of committing sex crimes against three female victims while on duty. He was formally charged in August 2010.

Officials said Poole was free on bond while waiting for his trial.

Just last Wednesday, a Nashville jury found Poole not guilty of official misconduct in connection with the arrest of an 18-year-old woman in 2009.

A judge withdrew a sexual battery charge against Poole the day before, citing a lack of evidence.

"When the judge dismissed the sexual battery count of the indictment, there really wasn't any basis, anymore, for the official misconduct," said Mark Scruggs, Poole's defense attorney.

The investigation began at the end of April when a 27-year-old known prostitute reported that Poole, in uniform and on-duty as a South Precinct patrolman, stopped her as she walked the streets south of downtown. She told officers that Poole patted her down to the point of fondling her and that he appeared to make verbal propositions, but she said she rejected his advances.

Her testimony did not support the charge when she took the stand during the trial.

"The indictment claimed there was some kind of sexual battery, when in fact, she was never touched sexually," Scruggs explained.

Poole still faces several other charges, including sexual battery, four counts of rape, three more counts of official misconduct, a count of patronizing a prostitute and a count of attempting to patronize a prostitute in a police zone in connection with three other women police identified as victims.

"There are a total of ten counts of the indictment that are left, three individual victims, so we will be pursuing prosecution on those cases," Assistant District Attorney General Robert McGuire said after the latest court date.

A trial date was expected to be set within the next couple weeks for the first of the three separate trials.

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