Lowndes County Sheriff Christopher West was arrested last week for disrupting a county commission meeting and allegedly threatening its members.

West, a 30-year law enforcement professional, was charged with misdemeanor harassment and obstructing government operations following a dispute at a June meeting with District 1 Commissioner Robert Harris, WSFA reports. The disagreement reportedly stemmed from the proposed relocation of Lowndes County investigators to Hayneville City Hall, which West opposed.

“As the commissioners voted, West was interfering with governmental business and harassing county commissioners, keeping them from doing their legal duties,” Harris told the Lowndes County Signal. “To threaten another elected official, and [West] is a peacemaker for the county… creating that type of environment, [he] is supposed to escalate, not escalate but he wasn’t able to do that.”

At a July executive meeting, Harris received approval from the commission to move forward with West’s arrest in a 3-2 vote. Commissioners Dickson Farrior and Joseph Barganier opposed the arrest, while Commissioners Harris, Joshua Simmons, and Charlie King Jr. voted in favor.

West turned himself in at the John Hulett Detention Center on Aug. 29.

The commission also voted for West to attend anger management classes.

Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @ShipleyAusten