AB Police: Video shows Pierce broke the law

Videos shot inside the Atlantic Beach Town Hall on two separate days show the town’s mayor, Retha Pierce, clearly broke trespassing and conduct laws, according to Atlantic Beach Police Chief Randy Rizzo.

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Click here to watch the raw video of Retha Pierce arrested.

Police arrested Pierce Jan. 28 after she went to town hall and started arguing with Councilwoman Charlene Taylor and town clerk Cheryl Pereira.

Pierce said she went to town hall to meet with town manager Kenneth McIver over office space in town hall.

Rizzo charged Pierce with disorderly conduct and trespassing after Pierce went to Town Hall two days in a row starting arguments with town staffers and a council member.

On Jan. 27, the video released Thursday shows Chief Rizzo breaking up a heated argument between mayor pro-tem Charlene Taylor and Pierce after the two women yelled at one another inside Town Hall for several minutes.

The Jan. 27 video showed Pierce make an aggressive move toward Taylor, who is standing with her back against a door frame inside town hall.

After breaking up the altercation, Pierce left town hall, according to police.

Then on Jan. 28, Atlantic Beach officer Jamie Turner spent nearly 30 minutes trying to calm Pierce down after she became irate because of boxes stacked in an office she said the town manager promised her, according to Rizzo.

Police said in their reports that Pierce was “loud and boisterous” inside Town Hall and was “interrupting the daily operations” of the government, which led to her arrest.

Rizzo was off duty from the police department Jan. 28, but was working at town hall changing door locks and making security changes to the building the day of Pierce’s arrest.

Rizzo got a call from Turner about the incident with Pierce on Jan. 28 and walked into the administration area of Town Hall and found Pierce sitting at a staffer’s desk, continuing to ignore orders to leave the property, according to the police report.

The video shows Rizzo approach the mayor in the video and asks Pierce several times to leave town hall and warn her that police were going to arrest her.

Pierce continued sitting at a desk in town hall and placed a call to Horry County 911 dispatchers that lasted five minutes:

Oper: "911 what is your emergency?"

Pierce: "911 I have an emergency. I am the mayor of Atlantic Beach. I came in for a scheduled meeting with the town manager."

Pierce: "I am the mayor of Atlantic Beach and I just want to work. How are you going to throw me out of a public building?"

Chief: "causing a disturbance."

Pierce: "for what? I haven't done anything. He called me this morning for a meeting."

Pierce: "I can work in this office."

Chief: "(Inaudible) Do not make me take you to jail."

Pierce: "Take me to jail for what?"

Chief: "For trespassing."

Pierce: "How am I trespassing in the town hall?"

Chief: "You have to leave this building."

Pierce: "For what? I haven't done anything."

Chief: "the manager has asked you to leave; now you have to leave. Please don't make me take you to jail."

Pierce: "I am the mayor and my office is in this building."

Chief: "Your office is not in this building.

Pierce: "It is so in this building. This is a public building. You are out of your jurisdiction officer Rizzo."

Chief: "You are now under arrest."

Pierce: "Under arrest for what? How am I trespassing and I'm the mayor?

Chief: "You've been asked to leave ma'am. You do not work in this office, you disrupted this office."

Pierce: "I did not disrupt this office, I came for a meeting."

Chief: "No, no, no, no, no you're under arrest. Once you're under arrest, I can't do anything more."

Pierce: "but why are you arresting when I'm."

Chief: "because you are charged with trespassing, ok?"

The video also shows Pierce snatch away from Turner and Rizzo after police place her under arrest.

Pierce told News13 by phone Thursday that if there was any video of the altercation inside town hall on Jan. 27, it was “concocted by those who are out to get me and discredit me,” Pierce said.

Pierce admitted she was loud and raised her voice but said she tried to reason with Rizzo that Taylor was the one shouting profanities and deserved to be arrested.

In the federal suit Pierce filed Wednesday in US District Court, the mayor claims she wanted to uncover “illegal activities” inside town hall that she said were going on.

The suit alleges Pereira, town manager Kenneth McIver, former interim town manager Charles Williams, Councilwoman Charlene Taylor, and Chief Rizzo, “ Agreed together to prevent the Plaintiff from holding the office she had been duly elected to or from performing her duties as the duly elected mayor and to induce her to leave the place where her duties are required to be performed. They determined to overthrow the duly elected government and stage a coup.”

Atlantic Beach Police took Pierce to the J. Reuben Long Detention Center where she was booked and given a $585 bond and freed; all within an hour of her booking, according to jail records.

In the federal suit filed Wednesday, Pierce claimed she was “wrongly arrested” and said she felt town staff and the police department were “planning a conspiracy” and a “coup” to keep her out of Town Hall and out of the mayor’s office.

The mayor faces up to 30 days in jail and fines if convicted.