CPD officer Wood reaches settlement deal with Commerce

Under the terms of an April 2, settlement deal with the city, Wood’s departure from city employment is to now be deemed a “voluntary resignation” with his last day of employment being April 30.

In return for being allowed to resign rather than terminated, Wood agreed to withdraw his appeal of the earlier termination.

Both the city and Wood also agreed to not issue statements disparaging each other and the city agreed to limit its comments about the matter if asked by news media.

In the agreement, Wood also “disputes the allegations leveled against him by the city and as reported to Channel 5 and other news media outlets. Rather, he contends that he followed all rules and regulations of the department and that the department failed to provide additional training and supervision he would have been entitled to.”

Wood had come under scrutiny last year and early this year for having made several controversial arrests, including the arrest of one man for having drugs who only had Walmart gummies that were not tainted with drugs. That arrest sparked the probe into Wood’s other arrests and was featured in an Atlanta television news segment.

A statement on Feb. 20, from CPD Chief Ken Harmon said that the department had reviewed “numerous hours of body-worn camera footage, incident reports and arrest reports” during the department’s internal investigation.

“During this inquiry, the department found that Officer Wood failed to adhere to supervisor direction and that some of Wood’s arrests were made in error resulting in his termination for cause,” Harmon said at that time.

Wood’s departure had been reported to the Georgia Peace Officer’s Standards and Training Council as a termination, but under the settlement agreement, that is now being reported as having “resigned pursuant to a settlement agreement.”

The GBI looked into the situation and determined that no charges should be filed against Wood.

According to Commerce Municipal Court data, the CPD made 109 DUI arrests in 2023. Of those, 75 were done by officer Wood and the other 34 by all other CPD officers combined. In December alone, Wood reportedly made 21 DUI arrests compared to just one by the rest of the department.

In a statement, Chief Harmon said Wood’s past cases continue to be adjudicated.

“The cases made by Jacob Wood continue to be adjudicated in the appropriate courts,” he said. “Each case is being considered by the courts individually with many of the cases already having been brought to a close.”