Firing of ex-Baxter policeman upheld

BAXTER — Former Baxter police officer Tobee Insco appealed his employment termination at a recent special called meeting at Baxter City Hall. The dispute stemmed from a recent random drug test.

“I was contacted by Dr. (Toney) Hudson at Occupational Health, where our doctor is, that Mr. Insco was under a controlled substance,” Baxter Chief of Police Danny Holmes said. “It came back MRO negative, which means he had a prescription for it. That’s not a problem. That’s not a problem at all. What I wanted to do, to make sure Mr. Insco and the citizens of Baxter were safe, was have him go to our doctor, take a ‘fitness for duty’ and he (the doctor) asked for Mr. Insco’s medical records.”

Here is where the trouble started.

“He told me he had a doctor’s appointment with his doctor on the 14th of December, and I told him, I said, ‘For you to come back to work, take your medical records and do a ‘fitness for duty’ and come back to work,’ Holmes continued. “He informed me that was not going to happen. That I was getting into his private life. I gave him 48 hours to go by my direct order, and he was terminated after that 48 hours after he did not comply.”

Insco was represented by Richard Brooks, attorney at law from Carthage.

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