From Domestic Violence Officer Accused Of Assaulting Husband (8/25/08):
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – A Putnam County woman faces is accused of assaulting her husband. Kim Keith is a domestic violence officer with the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. Since 2003, if there’s been a domestic violence case in the county, more than likely Keith has investigated it. But now she’s on the other side of the law and suspended from her job. “Absolutely not,” Keith said when asked if she has ever shoved or physically assaulted her husband. A police report indicates that her husband told investigators that she assaulted him. “My husband and I got into an argument,” she said.
Keith insisted that her husband is trying to get back at her because she wanted out of the marriage. “I would just like to say that I didn’t do all of what I’m accused of doing,” the deputy said. “I’d just like to get it taken care of and clear my name.” “The fact that she’s an officer, the fact that she got arrested is enough for me,” said Keith’s boss, Putnam County Sheriff David Andrews. Andrews said he takes the charges seriously. He put Keith on unpaid administrative leave, took her gun and patrol car. “We’ll see what happens in court,” he said. “I have to, as the sheriff, as the administrator here, look at the total circumstance. When this is all over with, I’ll make a decision as to what we do from there.” “He did push me. He left and went to a chiropractor appointment,” Keith said. Keith said her husband was never treated at a hospital for any injuries. She also said he waited five hours to summon police after the initial fight on Friday. Keith is scheduled to appear in court for the assault charges on Sept. 15. She was placed on unpaid administrative leave.
Kim Keith may well be the target of a false domestic violence accusation by her husband, as she claims. But during the many domestic violence cases she investigated, did she give potentially falsely accused men a fair shake? Or did she do what so many in the domestic violence establishment do, and just wave off men’s protestations that “I never laid a hand on her” or “She was hitting me first” as the inevitable lies of the “batterer”?