From [HERE] A former Sylva Police officer faces criminal charges related to his alleged treatment of a detainee in 2021.

Patrick Elijah “Eli” Trantham, 23, of Waynesville was indicted earlier this month by the Jackson County Grand Jury on two counts of assault inflicting serious injury.

The charges stem from a Feb. 14, 2021 incident where Trantham was the responding officer and allegedly used excessive force against Hugo Fabia Pinacho Vazquez after taking him into custody.

“This was absolutely an isolated incident,” Chief Chris Hatton said. “This is not who we are as a department, and any mistreatment of others is considered unacceptable by our officers. As the leader of Sylva PD, I have a heavy heart about this, but I can say that our leadership dealt with this accusation as soon as it came to light.”

That Sunday at 3:57 a.m., SPD responded to a call about a car over an embankment. On scene officers found the car but could not find a driver or passengers.

Shortly afterward they received a call about a person, who was later identified at Vazquez, sitting on the shoulder of U.S. 74.

“Former officer Trantham responded to this location to check the welfare of the person and try and determine if he was involved in the accident,” Hatton said. “Trantham found the individual sitting beside the roadway to be very intoxicated and uncooperative.”

Trantham took Vazquez into custody on a “hold until sober” meaning that under typical circumstances Vazquez would have been held until he was sober enough to take care of himself.

At some point, Trantham is believed to have assaulted Vazquez leaving him with “hematomas on his head, chin, right eye and cheek; (a) mildly deviated septum, sprain of the lumbar spine and left radiocarpal joint (wrist) and carpal ligaments,” according to court documents.

On Monday, Feb. 15, Hatton was alerted to the possibility of Trantham’s excessive use of force by other members of the department.

Two hours after learning of the incident SPD began a departmental investigation and reached out to the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation to initiate a criminal investigation, Hatton said.

The internal investigation was performed by SPD leadership to examine whether Trantham violated department policy, Hatton said.

On Feb. 16 Trantham was suspended. The internal investigation was completed the same day, and Trantham was scheduled for a disciplinary meeting with Hatton for the following day.

“On Feb. 17, 2021, Trantham resigned his employment in the morning hours before the scheduled meeting,” Hatton said. “This scheduled meeting would have resulted in the termination of Trantham’s employment with the Town of Sylva. Trantham’s employment with the Town of Sylva ended on this date. Trantham did not work any shifts after Sylva Police leadership were notified of the situation.”

No other officers were investigated in relation to the incident.

Trantham joined SPD on Oct. 29, 2019.

Hatton does not believe racial bias contributed to the incident and does not know if there was a language barrier.

“I am not aware of any facts or reasons to believe that this incident had anything to do with this person’s ethnicity,” he said.

Trantham’s next court date is scheduled for Sept. 9.