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Houston County sheriff’s lieutenant retires after domestic incident

The sheriff's office says Kent Bankston and his girlfriend both had scratches, but neither one pressed charges

HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — Facing discipline after a domestic incident at his home, Lt. Kent Bankston has retired from the Houston County Sheriff’s Office.

According to Bankston’s supervisor, Criminal Investigations Division Captain Jon Holland, it happened at Bankston’s home on the afternoon of April 26.

Holland called it a “typical argument that escalated” between Bankston and his “girlfriend.”

Holland did not name the woman or describe what sparked the scuffle.

The captain said Houston deputies responded after the woman called 911.

“There was some contact made” between Bankston and the woman, resulting in some “superficial” scratches on both of them, according to Holland. Neither person required treatment, he said.

No criminal charges were filed. According to Holland, neither Bankston nor the woman wanted to press charges and deputies also declined to file charges.

Holland says there are several reasons why deputies did not make an arrest.

According to him, when deputies respond to domestic incidents and discover “physical evidence” of an altercation and conclude the incident can be considered “family violence” (involving two people who live together, or share a child, for example), they'll typically make an arrest on scene if they can determine who is the "primary aggressor.”

According to Holland, the scuffle between Bankston and his girlfriend did not constitute family violence and deputies could not determine which one was the primary aggressor.

Given that, plus the fact that both parties declined prosecution, Holland says deputies chose not to file any charges.

But Holland says internal affairs investigated the case and found “violations of policy."

Bankston took “annual leave” after the incident and retired days later, “pending internal discipline," said Holland.

Holland would not speculate on what discipline Bankston would have faced or say what policy violations were committed.

Bankston spent close to 30 years working for the sheriff’s office. He was a lieutenant in the criminal investigations division at the time of the altercation.

To the best of Holland’s knowledge, Bankston had not had any past problems with internal affairs investigations. He said Bankston had been in the investigations division for about a decade.

Holland said the news was “a shock, but we hold ourselves to a high standard working at the sheriff's office and if there's any indication anyone violated the sheriff's policy we take that very seriously.”

Bankston did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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