(ELBERTA, Ala.) Elberta Police Chief Mickey Pledger is defending his story that someone shot at him. He says an investigation will prove he's telling the truth.
Remember two weeks ago Chief Pledger re-enacted what he says happened for our cameras. He claimed a man standing outside his office fired at him when he walked out, but there are many out there who say the chief's story doesn't add up.
Pledger says he knows there are skeptics and those who don't believe his life was in danger the night of Feb. 13 when he says a gunman came for him. "You can rumor all you want, but the physical evidence doesn't lie," says Pledger. "That's the bottom line."
The day after that alleged attack, Pledger took LOCAL 15 Reporter Irika Sargent back to the scene and described the events. He says as he retrieved a file from his police car behind the Elberta police station, a man standing outside his office window fired a shot and then ran.
Pledger says he ran after the man, firing his own weapon. Now as the Baldwin County Sheriff's Department investigates, Pledger says he's setting the record straight.
"I've heard more rumors, probably more rumors than most people," he said. There are rumors that there was no other gunman and that he shot his own office window. Pledger says the bullet didn't come from his gun.
"Ballistics don't lie and it's very easy to tell my service weapon from what went through that window," says Pledger.
Pledger admits some of that night's events are now hazy. "What you see at night in the light out here, you go back and think about it in your memory. What did you really see," Pledger says. He still believes a man was there to hurt him, but he admits that the man may not have meant to shoot him.
"I think I startled him and when he swung around his finger was on the trigger and he pulled the trigger," says Pledger.
Pledger says he's also heard that he orchestrated the shooting to prove Elberta still needs a police department.
"There was never any thought about doing away with the police department here before this happened or after," he says.
Pledger says if no one else believes him, he knows the mayor is on his side.
"Until someone gives concrete proof that the chief has done something wrong, the chief's my man," says Elberta mayor Marvin Williams. "I hired him and I stand by him."
Maj. Anthony Lowery with the Baldwin County Sheriff's Department says they continue to investigate and will complete that investigation very soon. There is no official word yet on the findings.
