Video is personnel matter, not criminal, city says
The issue of a video of Uniontown Fire Chief Chuck Coldren swearing at a city resident at an incident scene will most likely be addressed by city council in executive session as a personnel matter.
“We’ll get together to discuss the proper way to handle this, if there is such a thing,” said Mayor Ed Fike. “No matter how calm and collected we are, we all have a button that gets pushed and we say something we probably shouldn’t. The way I know Chuck (Coldren) he’s not a hot-headed person in any way, shape or form.”
Fike said Councilman Phil Michael, who is in charge of personnel matters with the fire department, had been hospitalized for more than a week, delaying any action by council on the matter. Fike said the issue will be dealt with solely as a personnel matter. Officially, the city has not received a complaint on the matter, Fike and other city officials have said. Fike said the video was brought to his attention by the media.
The man who shot the video, Christopher Shellhammer, said he has called the mayor’s office.
“I left a couple messages in his office and they haven’t been returned,” Shellhammer said.
Shellhammer said he simply left his name and phone number, not a detailed message. He said he also tried to file criminal charges in the matter.
“I tried. Nobody will take my complaint. I called the city police department and they said there was nothing they could do. I call the state police and they said it was outside their jurisdiction. I talked to the (district attorney’s) office and they said I’d probably be happier filing a civil complaint,” Shellhammer said.
Uniontown Police Chief Jason Cox said his department has received calls asking if the fire chief has been arrested yet, but Shellhammer has not filed a complaint.
“No formal complaint has been brought to me and I’m not aware of it being brought to the police department,” Cox said.
Shellhammer, his brother Joe Shellhammer and their mother Kathryn Goodwin Jones can often be found protesting in front of the Fayette County Courthouse, Uniontown police station and city hall contending corruption by various public officials including the district attorney, the police chief and others.
Christopher Shellhammer said he took his video of the fire chief to social media and not to city hall because “there’s no accountability here.”
“I haven’t been inside city hall. I’ve sat outside city hall,” Christopher Shellhammer said. “I’m pretty sure they would just escort me out like they did my mother in 2011.”
City solicitor J. W. Eddy said he has only seen the video once, on a television newscast, but did not see anything that would warrant criminal charges.
“At the very least I want him charged with harassment,” Christopher Shellhammer said of Coldren. “It’s not for the initial outburst – he keeps coming back,”.
Christopher Shellhammer acknowledged that he made an obscene gesture toward Coldren.
“At the end of the video when you hear the chief say “yeah, bye,” that’s when I flipped him off. It was that smart ann remark that got the finger from me,” he said.
Fike said he has received similar treatment from the family while they were protesting.
“Friday (June 14) they gave me the finger in front of the courthouse. I don’t think there’s anything I can do about it because it falls under their First Amendment right,” Fike said.
Coldren could not be reached for comment.
The next city council meeting is scheduled for July 3 at 4:30 p.m.