Past termination Justice Clingman was fired from the Odessa, Texas, police force in 1979

City: Termination was for ‘mishandling’ black prisoner

Long before he was a state Supreme Court justice, Gary Clingman was fired from a police department in a West Texas oil town over the “arrest and handling” of a black man.

The Odessa American newspaper reported in 1979 that Odessa police officer Clingman was fired and fellow officer John Blanco was suspended for 21 days without pay for the “mishandling of a prisoner” during an Oct. 17, 1979, arrest. A jailer, who couldn’t be reached for comment on Tuesday, received a five-day unpaid suspension.

Clingman, who was a longtime judge in New Mexico’s 5th Judicial District, was appointed by Gov. Susana Martinez earlier this year to fill a vacant seat on the state’s highest court. Now running as the Republican candidate for the seat in the Nov. 6 election, Clingman faces Democrat Michael Vigil, who sits on the state Court of Appeals.

Clingman in an interview acknowledged the firing, and said he jumped in when his partner got into two fights with the suspect. He said he was fired because he was the senior officer on scene; he unsuccessfully appealed his termination to city administrators.

“That was a very long time ago, and I went on with my law enforcement career, subsequently went on to law school and have an unblemished record beyond that point,” Clingman said. “And prior to that point.”

The man arrested, Sylvester Talbert, told the Journal he was falsely arrested, and beaten by both officers and a jail guard.

Few records were available about the firing or the arrest, other than the news stories in the Odessa American.

The paper reported that Talbert, 27, had been arrested by two Odessa police officers outside a hospital on Oct. 17, 1979, and charged with assaulting a police officer. One story reported that Talbert allegedly struck Blanco on the face.

Officers questioned Talbert near the entrance to the hospital “after the man’s presence alarmed several nurses leaving the hospital,” the story stated.

In the Journal interview, Clingman said he and his partner were responding to reports of a suspicious person, “and we arrested a guy and things got out of hand.”

Talbert, when reached by the Journal, said he was falsely arrested after waiting for his wife, a nurse at the hospital, to get off work. Talbert said the officers demanded his identification, which he hadn’t brought because he was out for a nighttime jog.

Clingman said he was standing about 10 feet away as his partner “exchanged words” with the man and a fight broke out.

“I went to the aid of my partner,” Clingman said. “We arrested this fellow, and he resisted arrest, there’s no question.”

Later, as Talbert was being booked into jail, Clingman told the Journal that his partner and the man got into a second fight.

“I jumped in, and we got him put in jail,” Clingman said.

News reports show that a formal complaint was filed about the incident. Talbert told the Journal he lost teeth and suffered injuries including a broken wrist. He said the charges against him were dropped and he received an apology from then-Police Chief Jack Tomlin.

Clingman told the Journal he didn’t believe he had mishandled the man, and didn’t know whether he was injured.

“The way it basically came down, I was the senior officer, and I paid the price,” Clingman said of his firing. “I was responsible for the conduct of my partner.”

Soon afterward, he got a job with the sheriff’s department in a neighboring county, and months later, he started a two-year stint as a deputy in his home county.

When asked whether he had revealed his firing when seeking public office, he said he filled out the applications truthfully. His application for the Supreme Court vacancy includes his work history, but does not ask his reason for leaving any of his previous jobs.

Meanwhile, Blanco, who rose to be deputy chief of the department, died in 2013. Tomlin, the police chief who fired Clingman, died in 2008.

Former Odessa city manager Kerry Sweatt, who upheld the termination, told the Journal on Tuesday he did not remember the specific case, but that it was rare for a police officer to be fired by the city.