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STOCKTON - A Stockton police officer is off the job after he issued a traffic ticket to the mayor's son.
The Tooele Transcript Bulletin reports Stockton Mayor Dan Rydalch suspended Cpl. Josh Rowell after Rowell ticketed the mayor's son for not having a driver license during a traffic checkpoint around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday.
According to the paper, officers suspected a driver pulled into a residential area to avoid the checkpoint. Rowell pulled over the car and ticketed the driver for not having a license with him.
Rowell says the man told him he was out looking for his dog, would be driving around and asked that officers not pull him over. But Rowell says he threatened to pull the man over again if he saw him driving later.
Rowell says he didn't know the man was Rydalch's son until he turned in the ticket stub to the court clerk. When the mayor found out about the citation he first fired Rowell, then suspended him instead.
The mayor told the Transcript Bulletin it had nothing to do with the ticket but "the manner in which the situation was handled." He said it is being handled internally.
Stockton Police Chief Heinz Kopp declined to comment, saying the suspension was the mayor's decision.
