Public Complaint No. 1657562801 - 1289120611

Wynnewood P.D. Officer Brandon Cross is on suspension. And rightly so. Why? For a barely discovered instance of gross dereliction of duty, that's why. As Mayor Anne Giltner's long time pick to be her next appointed chief of police, Officer Cross apparently felt he already had the authority to instruct the staff of a local business to discard the physical remains of a human birth that occurred in a public restroom on June 29. Into the trash. Without inspecting it. Without calling in medical assistance or investigative backup. And afterward he didn't even bother filing a report nor briefing his chain of command. Yes, we're serious. The actual head of the police department, elected City Marshal Ken Moore, (who has been certified by the council as the Chief of Police since 2003) only discovered the baby-in-the-trash fiasco after returning to work after the July 4th holiday. Ken was in fact informed by his counterparts at both the Garvin and Murray County Sheriffs Departments rather than his own man as Cross answers directly to Mayor Anne Giltner now and no longer respects any Aldermanic Government Form chain of command. By then, weekly trash service had commenced, depositing bio hazardous waste material into the local landfill. Said 'material' was either an unsaveable early term fetus, a workable, viable fetus or a near term baby left to expire and be feasted on by rodents and scavenging birds. The thought is a horrific one. In any instance, the body was the chief piece of evidence in a homicide scene, or should have been. This is a most basic theory of sound police work. All human deaths regardless of age much be vetted to some degree by an appropriate agency in Oklahoma to prevent undetected homicide. It's State Law. It's taught on day one hour one of the CLEET police academy. But apparently not this time. Officer Cross, who is also a member of the local volunteer fire department, didn't even make any attempt to identify the woman who gave birth either, or find her whereabouts. This despite being shown proof that the woman had lost a remarkable amount of blood, far more than an average birth. She was likely in distress. City Marshal / Chief Moore along with the staff of the local business and deputies now privy to the incident were understandably horrified and began doing what they could to backtrack through almost a week of time. A woman had come to our town and given birth, either accidentally or intentionally but Cross' actions likely prevented ever knowing if the matter was a spontaneous (natural) abortion, an intentional act of abortion, the result of narcotics use, an accident, illness or for any other reason. Furthermore, there is currently no way to determine -- since Cross flatly refused to look at the remains -- whether the fetus in question was an early, largely undeveloped fetus, or a viable one that should have undergone life saving measures. His squeamish incompetence prevented ever knowing if the actions in the restroom constituted manslaughter. It also made it highly unlikely that any ancillary agency such as the OSBI would ever take up the matter after the fact. Staff members who remain traumatized by the incident are only left to wonder how developed the fetus actually was. Eye witnesses described it as 'heavy' in a garbage bag but acknowledged that the bag appeared to contain a ruptured placenta, a length of umbilical cord and a fetus wrapped in multiple layers of blood soaked paper which could have created an inflated perception of size. Staff members stated they hesitated to look themselves prior to the arrival of police as they did not want to disturb the scene itself, a very responsible action by the staff. Afterwards they were shocked at Brandon Cross's apathy and simply went through the motions of cleaning up the horrendous death scene. But what should have been a routine occurrence dealt with by trained individuals has now potentially given Wynnewood another black eye. Although investigation continues to positively identify the woman who gave birth and to determine how far along she was in her pregnancy, odds are slim that the entirety of the situation will ever be known. Because of one inept police officer fixated on power and control. That fact is very simply a matter of the destruction of evidence hampering an investigation, a cardinal sin for a commissioned law enforcement officer. Especially one with a storied past who is currently not allowed to file criminal charges in the 21st Judicial District already. This is because despite his being acquitted of two felony sex crimes, the DA's office simply no longer trusts him. And they've told him so. This is the same officer who held up the legal transportation of a corpse from a hospice care scene for two hours last year. Just because he thought he could. With all of this in mind City Marshal Ken Moore and Assistant Chief Rusty Cannon both recommended to Anne Giltner that Cross be immediately fired. Nonetheless, Anne Giltner did not fire Cross, but instead placed him on PAID administrative leave pending the outcome of any remaining investigative efforts. This decision just before a historic vote to unfund the City Marshal's position in City Government where Mayor Giltner would be free to appoint Brandon Cross as chief. It's also 24 hours before the last legal hurdle is cleared to facilitate a civil injunction against her for illegally serving as mayor while living outside the city limits. The mess is also one of history repeating itself, almost as if the citizens of Wynnewood learned nothing about the events from 1985-87 where two competing police departments in two competing forms of government feuded right out in the brick streets to the dismay of neighboring communities. Save us all the trouble, Brandon Cross, just go. And please take your foul mouthed tradition ruining mayor along with you. https://www.facebook.com/107363821591852/photos/a.187302776931289/343154828012749/