Former Mt. Zion Police Chief Bradley Forrister appealed his termination in a City Council hearing Tuesday night. Though his attorney, Gary Bunch, called two witnesses and presented numerous documents for evidence, the council voted unanimously to uphold Mayor Sue Bloodworth’s decision to fire Forrister. In his closing remarks, Bunch described the hearing as “a trial by ambush.”

Bloodworth dismissed Forrister for “willfully giving false statements to supervisors, officials or to the public,” according to a letter of termination dated Sept. 10.

The controversy began when a Mt. Zion woman, 32-year-old Kehli Chandler Wix, was arrested in Douglasville and charged with public drunkenness on March 22. Wix was in the Douglas County jail for five hours until she was released on bond, according to her witness statement.

She explained that she then called Forrister to find out if he was related to the officer who had arrested her whose last name was similar but spelled Forrester.

Wix also stated that she did not understand why she was arrested and called to ask Forrister for help.

Forrister said in his witness statement that he asked a fellow Mt. Zion police officer, Michael Dobbs, to call the Douglasville Police Department to find out the terms of Wix’s arrest.

When asked by Alan Miller, the attorney representing the city, if he intended for Dobbs to encourage Douglasville Police Chief Chris Womack to drop Wix’s charges, Forrister said he did not.

Forrister also denied giving Chief Womack the false impression that Wix was actually an intern with the Police Department.

Forrister met Wix years earlier when he helped her find her son after he failed to get on the school bus going home. The relationship continued when Wix participated in the city’s ride-along program after she started classes studying criminal justice.

When asked by Miller if he was romantically involved with Wix, Forrister said that the relationship was strictly professional.

Forrister also explained that when Bloodworth approached him about the incident, she accused him of calling Womack with the intention of getting Wix out of jail. Forrister said he replied that he had asked Dobbs to call the department and did not ask for any special favors.

In his closing remarks, Miller stated that later, “Dobbs went to Womack to apologize for false information and for any pretences that Wix was an interness.”

Neither Dobbs nor Womack were present at the hearing. The council reported that it possessed written statements from both men, but that they were not required to give either statement to Forrister.

Bunch also asked that Mayor Bloodworth take the witness stand, but his request was denied on the basis that a City Council hearing does not follow the same statutes as an actual court of law.

“The way this case was represented makes a mockery of justice,” Bunch said in closing. “It’s not only wrong, but profoundly wrong, unfair and unjust.”

Forrister said he plans to pursue further litigation against the city.

“All I can say is this is wrong and that was easily proven by my attorney and the fact that they had no evidence,” he said.