CORRECTION - In the story below it was wrongly reported that Johnny Walls was hired as a Chesapeake officer in May 2008.

The information provided to the Gazette by the state Law Enforcement Training (LET) unit of the Division of Justice and Community Services was incorrect. He completed the eight classes for equivalent certification and was certified as a West Virginia police officer at that time, but wasn't employed in Chesapeake past June 25, 2005.

The story below has been changed to reflect this correction. 

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The police officer who witnesses say dragged an 80-year-old man off his ATV and slammed him to the concrete had difficulty getting certified as a police officer in West Virginia, state records show.

Cedar Grove officer Johnny Walls went through three West Virginia police departments and twice received training in Ohio before becoming a fully certified officer while working in Chesapeake, state records show.

On Aug. 16, Robert McComb was riding ATVs with his friends, Darrell Cole and Bobby Palmer, and was heading back to his house in Cedar Grove after coming out of the woods when he was stopped by Walls.

Witness Carrie Balser said she watched in horror as McComb was pulled off of the side of the ATV by Walls and slammed to the concrete face-first.

Palmer, who said he rode up to the scene after McComb was on the ground, said blood was dripping down McComb's face from a gash on his forehead and that skin was torn off his right arm.

McComb was hospitalized for three days after the incident. On Saturday, Cedar Grove residents held a candle light vigil for McComb, who attended.

On Monday, Cedar Grove Mayor James Hudnall said the incident remains under investigation. He said Walls was still employed as of Monday with Cedar Grove, but that he was on leave.

Hudnall said he called Kanawha County prosecutor Mark Plants and was asking him for advice about what to do about the situation.

Karen McComb, Robert McComb's daughter, said Monday that her father was doing well at his home. She said she hadn't been contacted by any other law enforcement agencies about the case.

McComb said she talked to Hudnall on Saturday.

"I said to him that I respect him as a long-time friend and wanted to say to him ... that I believe leadership is ultimately responsible for its employees," she said.

"We need to hold everyone accountable, and if we don't, then the mayor is as guilty as they are."

Missy Kane owns the Exxon in Cedar Grove. She said the Cedar Grove police have done nothing to help her business.

"That's because I stand up for myself and they want people to cower down to them. I refuse to do it," she said.

Kane said she once requested Walls investigate a former employee who was caught on video stealing from her store and he refused.

"They're a joke," she said of Cedar Grove police.

CORRECTION - In the story below it was wrongly reported that Johnny Walls was hired as a Chesapeake officer in May 2008.

The information provided to the Gazette by the state Law Enforcement Training (LET) unit of the Division of Justice and Community Services was incorrect. He completed the eight classes for equivalent certification and was certified as a West Virginia police officer at that time, but wasn't employed in Chesapeake past June 25, 2005.

The story below has been changed to reflect this correction. 

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The police officer who witnesses say dragged an 80-year-old man off his ATV and slammed him to the concrete had difficulty getting certified as a police officer in West Virginia, state records show.

Cedar Grove officer Johnny Walls went through three West Virginia police departments and twice received training in Ohio before becoming a fully certified officer while working in Chesapeake, state records show.

On Aug. 16, Robert McComb was riding ATVs with his friends, Darrell Cole and Bobby Palmer, and was heading back to his house in Cedar Grove after coming out of the woods when he was stopped by Walls.

Witness Carrie Balser said she watched in horror as McComb was pulled off of the side of the ATV by Walls and slammed to the concrete face-first.

Palmer, who said he rode up to the scene after McComb was on the ground, said blood was dripping down McComb's face from a gash on his forehead and that skin was torn off his right arm.

McComb was hospitalized for three days after the incident. On Saturday, Cedar Grove residents held a candle light vigil for McComb, who attended.

On Monday, Cedar Grove Mayor James Hudnall said the incident remains under investigation. He said Walls was still employed as of Monday with Cedar Grove, but that he was on leave.

Hudnall said he called Kanawha County prosecutor Mark Plants and was asking him for advice about what to do about the situation.

Karen McComb, Robert McComb's daughter, said Monday that her father was doing well at his home. She said she hadn't been contacted by any other law enforcement agencies about the case.

McComb said she talked to Hudnall on Saturday.

"I said to him that I respect him as a long-time friend and wanted to say to him ... that I believe leadership is ultimately responsible for its employees," she said.

"We need to hold everyone accountable, and if we don't, then the mayor is as guilty as they are."

Missy Kane owns the Exxon in Cedar Grove. She said the Cedar Grove police have done nothing to help her business.

"That's because I stand up for myself and they want people to cower down to them. I refuse to do it," she said.

Kane said she once requested Walls investigate a former employee who was caught on video stealing from her store and he refused.

"They're a joke," she said of Cedar Grove police.

A circuitous route

Walls' history as a police officer in West Virginia dates to October 2003, when he was hired as an officer in Chesapeake, according to records provided through a Freedom of Information Act request to the state Law Enforcement Training (LET) unit of the Division of Justice and Community Services.

Walls started with the 123 Basic Class, which all new city officers and sheriff's deputies take to become certified in West Virginia.

Walls didn't finish his training, however, and withdrew from the class. He was eligible to return to another class, according the information provided.

In January 2005, he was promoted to chief in Chesapeake, a position that doesn't require officers to be certified. Later that year, he left Chesapeake.

Current Chesapeake Chief Jack Ice said Walls left the department after, "two or three incidents where he got in trouble."

"There were several incidents here in Chesapeake that people took him to task on," Ice said.

In August 2006, Walls hired on as a deputy in Lincoln County. The LET unit was told that he had completed his training as a police officer in Ohio. But while Walls was trained as an officer in Ohio, he never worked in Ohio and hadn't been certified as an officer there.

Walls had been intending to complete eight core classes at the West Virginia State Police Academy, which would have granted him equivalent certification in West Virginia.

But because he wasn't officially certified in Ohio, the LET subcommittee notified Lincoln County Sheriff's Department that he had to attend the full Academy Basic Class.

Walls again tried to enter a basic class in December 2006 but "wasn't able to complete the required steps to enter the Academy" and had to quit working as a sheriff's deputy, according to the information provided by the LET unit.

Lincoln County notified LET unit that Walls had stopped working as a deputy on Jan. 9, 2007.

Walls then went back to Ohio and became certified as a police officer there. In October 2007, he was hired in Winfield. Members of the Equivalent Certification Committee, a standing committee of the LET subcommittee, approved Walls to participate in the equivalent certification training at the academy.

In January 2008, the LET subcommittee reversed the previous decision, saying Walls couldn't take the equivalent certification because state code requires that individuals who start entry-level police training in West Virginia must finish it here.

Walls stopped working as a Winfield officer in February 2008. Also that month, he won his appeal to the subcommittee, which ruled that he could finish the equivalent training and become a certified West Virginia police officer.

In May 2008 completed the eight classes for equivalent certification and was certified as a West Virginia police officer -- more than three years after first working as an officer in the state.

In July 2009, the LET unit received word that Walls had been appointed chief in Cedar Grove.

The process for becoming certified through equivalent training has since changed, said Chuck Sadler, state Law Enforcement Training coordinator. Now, anyone seeking equivalent training must attend the academy full-time for about two weeks, he said.

Reach Gary Harki at gha...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5163.