Sheriff's challenger alleges gun pulled on his wife, supporters

By Wayne Crenshaw - wcrenshaw@macon.com

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Supporters of Houston County sheriff's candidate Chad Payne, including his wife, allege that an off-duty Houston County detention officer brandished a gun at them on the eve of the election.

The GBI has been asked to look into the incident, said Houston County Chief Deputy Billy Rape.

"We are certainly concerned about the complaint and we take it seriously, but we feel like we should bow out of any investigation," Rape said.

The jailer, Karl David Darden, was on duty Tuesday and has been made available for questioning by the GBI, Rape said. The chief deputy said appropriate action would be taken if the investigation proves the allegation to be true.

According to an incident report filed by the Warner Robins Police Department, Payne's supporters said they were picking up campaign signs to move to polling places when the incident occurred on Peach Blossom Road.

Sean King said he was in a vehicle with Patsy Payne, who is Chad Payne's wife, when he saw a friend, Matt Quinton, driving a 2002 Ford truck.

Quinton began waving for them to pull over, the report states. Darden, a passenger in Quinton's truck, pulled out a black handgun and pointed it in the air, King stated in the report.

Darden denied in the incident report that he pulled out the gun.

Quinton said he was waving for King to stop to ask him to come to his house.

Chad Payne,after sending e-mails late Monday to supporters and members of the news media referring to "deadly threats against my family members and volunteers," deferred comment on the incident Tuesday. He instead referred a reporter to his attorney, George Williams.

Williams acknowledged that the drivers of the two vehicles were friends, but he said Patsy Payne and two children in the vehicle did not know that and were frightened.

"It looks to me like it was a foolish, foolish prank," Payne's attorney said.

Asked whether he thought criminal charges should be filed, Williams said he would leave that to the GBI to determine.

Rape said the gun was Darden's personal weapon for which he had a permit.

When questioned by the sheriff's department, Darden "emphatically denied" pulling the gun, Rape said.

To contact writer Wayne Crenshaw,

call 923-6199, extension 235.

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