Florida district chief paid full salary while spending 31 days in jail after 2nd DUI
The Jacksonville, Florida fire chief told reporters in March that District Chief Jason Tidwell was on leave without pay after Tidwell was jailed following his second off-duty DUI arrest in just three months. But what Chief Marty Senterfitt said turned out not to be true.
Tidwell spent a total of 31 days in jail, 13 days following his arrest and 18 after his conviction. WJXT-TV reporter Jim Piggott reports that Chief Tidwell was never on leave without pay and instead received his full salary for every day he was locked up.
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The current Jacksonville Fire-Rescue Chief Kurt Wilson blames all of this on civil service rules. The department now says Tidwell’s time in jail will be deducted from his accumulated leave.
“What happens then he enters into our disciplinary process, and at the time, that was a written letter of reprimand for something that happened off-duty,” Wilson said. “Now if it happened on duty, then we would have the ability to give them an authorized leave or leave without pay. But being that this happened off-duty, we give them the presumption of innocence.”
Tidwell is back at work and as a district chief. His job requires him to drive a department vehicle and he does have a license restricted to business use only, which he can drive to and from work and on the job.
