Richland County sheriff's deputies responding to a disturbance about 11 p.m. on Nov. 6 in the 1300 block of Longcreek Drive in the St. Andrews area found Paige "completely naked standing in the parking lot and intoxicated," according to a department news release.

Two deputies on patrol said a female pedestrian ran and was screaming after seeing Paige, according to an incident report. The deputies said they saw Paige naked in a lit area of a parking lot, and that he tried to leave the area in his truck.

According to the report, the deputies found these items in Paige's 1999 black Nissan Titan: a drink containing alcoholic beverage and ice, an empty mini liquor bottle, a plastic bag with two pairs of women's underwear, a T-shirt, dark pullover sweater and a pair of gray sweat pants.

Deputies also found a .380-caliber Smith and Wesson handgun that had been reported stolen in Richland County in 1998, the report said, noting that according to an earlier report, the complainant then was Paige's wife, and that the gun was last kept with Paige's parents.

We have an officer, drunk, in public, who is naked in a parking lot and then when deputies arrived, actually tried to drive off.  The officer was summarily fired by the police department for which he worked.

So, why was he rehired?

The charge against Lenard Paige, 43, was dismissed because the officer who arrested him died before he could testify. Another officer involved in the case didn't show up for a later hearing.

Reaves, who was named interim chief less than three weeks ago, defended his decision to rehire Paige, stressing that the indecent exposure charge was dismissed.

This is your leadership in law enforcement at work, ladies and gentlemen.  Because the charging officer was dead and the second officer in the case missed a hearing, the charge against the officer was dismissed, AND, since there was no charge... no foul... put him back on the road!

This is disgusting.  What this teaches other officers is that there are only repercussions IF you get caught, and then, you won't have any repercussion at all if you can just get the charges to go away.

While this decision is utterly wrong, it is also a clear indication that there are people who lead our police departments who shouldn't be that position.