Chris Butler

CHATSWORTH, Ga. — Murray County assistant fire chief Chris Butler, a 21-year veteran of the department, has resigned after being arrested for two counts each of simple

battery and willful obstruction or hindrance of a firefighter, both misdemeanors, after a dispute at the scene of a fire earlier this month.

According to a Murray County Sheriff’s Office incident report, on July 4 around 10:40 p.m. a deputy was sent to 430 Ben Adams Road to a call of a firefighter being assaulted while battling a fire. When the deputy arrived, he found a house that “had been fully engulfed in flames” and was directed to firefighter Troy Lanier.

He said Lanier, “who was noticeably upset,” told him he and firefighter Justin Ridley had been assaulted by Butler earlier that evening as they were trying to fight the fire. Lanier said he was trying to enter the front part of the house to try to contain the fire.

“Apparently Mr. Butler was not happy with this decision and began to pull on his pants legs,” pulling him away from the house, according to the report. Lanier said he and Butler “had words about the situation” during which he noticed Ridley “was very shook up.” Lanier said Ridley told him that he and Butler had been “engaged in a physical altercation.”

The report says the deputy approached Ridley and “could instantly tell that he was very emotional about the situation.”

Ridley told the deputy that when firefighters arrived they “positioned” the trucks and began to check out the house. He said when Butler arrived he “began yelling at him about where he parked the fire truck. Then he started yelling about how other people were doing their job.”

Ridley said another firefighter asked him to check around the house for propane tanks. He said as he came around the side of the house Butler met him and placed his hands around his “neck/face area.”

“He began to yell and pull his head around while walking back towards the front of the residence,” the report says. It says Ridley said he was “apologizing and asking for him to stop.”

The report says a third firefighter told the deputy he witnessed the incidents.

The report says the deputy waited for Fire Chief Dewayne Bain to arrive and briefed him on what he had heard. He said he told Bain that Butler was “standing in the middle of an active fire scene and was not wearing any of his protective gear.”

The deputy then spoke to Lanier and Ridley again and confirmed they wanted to press charges against Butler. He said he told Bain, who said he “understood why they would come to that decision and then informed me that he had just got done talking with Mr. Butler, who admitted to doing everything that he is accused of.”

The deputy then approached Butler, who told him “he got very upset with the guys. He stated that upon arrival to the scene, he was not happy with the way that a fire engine was parked and was not happy about how other things were being done on the scene. He said that is when he noticed a fireman, Justin Ridley, just ‘free lancing’ and he blew up.”

The report says Butler said he “grabbed Justin by the mouth and began to pull him around.” Butler also said he grabbed Lanier by the pants legs and pulled him away from the fire.

The report says the deputy told Butler that wasn’t the way to “handle the situation” and he couldn’t be “putting his hands on anyone,” including firefighters he is supervising.

“Chris admitted that he did wrong and knew that he should not have done what he did,” the report says.

Another deputy then placed Butler in his patrol car and took him to jail.

The first deputy then contacted the on-call Magistrate Court judge to ask him to come to the jail and swear out warrants and possibly set bond for Butler.

Bain said Wednesday that Butler, who had been assistant chief since 2005, resigned the day after the incident. Bain said he was surprised by what happened. 

Lanier and Ridley declined to comment on Wednesday. Butler did not immediately return a telephone message.