Seminole Police Chief David Hanson has received multiple complaints made against him to the City Manager.

The accusations allege that Hanson used homophobic slurs when speaking with a local business owner and that he has harassed his officers. Chief Hanson has disputed the claims.

Todd Holliday, owner of SPC Office Products in Seminole, came forward with the allegations. One of SPC’s largest clients is the City of Seminole, which includes the police department. Holliday and Hanson are in touch frequently due to this business relationship.

Holliday, who is married to his husband Justin, told KFOR that Hanson has called him homophobic names.

“Very derogatory, very slanderous names that no one should every call anyone,” Holliday told KFOR. “It could hurt the business and I’m sure it will hurt the business, but we have to stand up for us,” Holiday said. “We have fought for us our entire lives. It’s not just us, it’s the citizens of this city.”

Holliday has saved text messages from Chief Hanson that show the alleged slurs. Many of the text messages from both Holliday and Hanson include profanity and were not able to be printed due to their crass nature.

Chief Hanson issued the following statement: “These allegations are completely shocking to me. Justin and Todd Holliday have been close friends of my family. They have been guests in our home, we’ve been to dinner together with our spouses, and socialized on many other occasions. They both know I am not homophobic. We exchanged cordial, off-color texts. They texted wild gay comments and made fun of me being Jewish. I responded with off-color jokes. Not one time did I ever detect that any remark made was unwelcome or offensive. There were certainly no feelings of hostility. I didn’t find the anti-Semitic remarks offensive and took them in jest. I welcome the opportunity to provide our text conversations to the public when the time is appropriate so they can judge for themselves. If I would have known the Holliday’s felt this way, I would have corrected the issue immediately, rather than them going to the press and causing embarrassment to my family and the community. If I have offended them or the LBGTQ community in any way, I most sincerely apologize. This is one of those life-learning lessons that come at great cost and I have certainly been humbled by this experience.”

Lt. Michael Burnett, a member of the Seminole Police Department, also levied a complaint against Chief Hanson.

“Being berated is a daily abuse,” Burnett told KFOR. “It’s gotten to the point where none of us want to come to work.”

Burnett said that Hanson had made inappropriate comments towards him and other officers.

“We get called fat — we’re too fat, ‘you’re too fat’ to do this,” Burnett reported. “I’ve seen him do that to our secretary as well, the female secretary that works there. I’ve seen him throw papers at her and just treat her terrible.”

Burnett continued, saying that the harassment has also been physical.

“And insert his finger into the crack of the back of your pants pretty forcefully. It happened on numerous occasions,” Burnett said.

When asked by KFOR if Hanson should be fired, he responded “Yes, I would be. A hundred percent.”

Burnett and the Hollidays have family ties. Lt. Burnett’s wife is the cousin of Justin Holliday and Lt. Burnett’s son is an employee of Todd Holliday at the office supply store in Seminole.

When asked to comment on the allegations, Seminole City Manager Steve Saxon released the following statement: “We are aware of complaints against the Police Chief by members of the Fraternal Order of Police and a member of the public. We consider all complaints of this nature very seriously. At our request, there will be an outside investigation into this matter. This is a personnel situation, which requires a high level of confidentiality. However, I can assure the public that all concerns will be adequately addressed to prevent any further issues.”

The City of Seminole has announced there will be a special meeting of the Seminole City Council to discuss the situation in executive session at noon on Friday at the Goldie Barnett Room located inside the Seminole Public Library.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was to meet with both parties on Wednesday afternoon and issue a formal statement. That statement had not yet been released as of the print deadline.