EAST BANK -- An East Bank police officer who admitted to using a Taser on a pregnant 18-year-old and a town firefighter has been fired, said town Mayor Chuck Blair.

In a separate incident, East Bank Council Member Neil Kidd was forced to pay back more than $100 after selling scrap metal belonging to the town, Blair said.

"What happened was he took some old scrap water meters, and he had some personal stuff as well," Blair said. "It was debris that he thought was no good to anybody else."

Kidd is also the head of the city's public works department, Blair said.

"He is very conscientious, an excellent employee. He realizes he dropped the ball," Blair said. "He is being disciplined. He is returning the money, and a letter of what happened is being put in his file."

Sgt. Steve Smith was fired for the Taser incidents on the advice of the town's attorney John Mitchell Sr., Blair said.

Originally, the council formed a three-person panel to investigate the matter, as required by town law. But Mitchell told Blair that Smith could be fired outright because he hadn't been an officer for more than a year and was still on probation.

"We didn't need to go through that," Blair said.

In September, Candice White, 18, told the Council she was sitting on her porch when Smith, a friend of her mother's at the time, showed up.

In a separate incident, East Bank Council Member Neil Kidd was forced to pay back more than $100 after selling scrap metal belonging to the town, Blair said.

"What happened was he took some old scrap water meters, and he had some personal stuff as well," Blair said. "It was debris that he thought was no good to anybody else."

Kidd is also the head of the city's public works department, Blair said.

"He is very conscientious, an excellent employee. He realizes he dropped the ball," Blair said. "He is being disciplined. He is returning the money, and a letter of what happened is being put in his file."

Sgt. Steve Smith was fired for the Taser incidents on the advice of the town's attorney John Mitchell Sr., Blair said.

Originally, the council formed a three-person panel to investigate the matter, as required by town law. But Mitchell told Blair that Smith could be fired outright because he hadn't been an officer for more than a year and was still on probation.

"We didn't need to go through that," Blair said.

In September, Candice White, 18, told the Council she was sitting on her porch when Smith, a friend of her mother's at the time, showed up.

"He was just playing around. He [used the Taser] on my leg three times, then again. It left star marks on my body," White said at the meeting.

White said she told him to stop and smacked at the Taser. Afterward, White said Smith told her not to tell Bob Stone, an East Bank councilman. White said she was pregnant when the incident occurred.

Candice White's mother also said she saw the incident.

Smith told Council members that Candice White had asked if she could get a Taser. He told her that he was trained to certify her in its use, and part of the training involved getting shocked with the Taser. He said she asked to be Tasered, and he had the Taser's power setting very low. He said he didn't know she was pregnant.

A young man from the East Bank Volunteer Fire Department also told the Council in September that he was Tasered by Smith.

"He Tasered me because it was my birthday," the firefighter said, adding that his back was turned when Smith used the Taser on him.

"It didn't hurt me. I had no problem with it; it didn't hurt," he said.

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