Allen County Sheriff Merit Board members heard testimony for most of the day Wednesday on the alleged anger-management issues of County Officer Brent E. Whan, after Sheriff Ken Fries suggested to the board last month he should be fired.

The termination hearing will push into today after proceedings did not conclude.

Fries called for Whan's badge after receiving reports that the two-year veteran officer, on several occasions during a mandated field training program, acted with such anger that his police work suffered and the safety of himself, other officers and the general public was compromised.

Those reports came from Officer Jason Baker, a field training officer responsible for supervising and training Whan, who was being trained to enter the sheriff's department's warrants division.

Baker told the board Wednesday that he “saw a progressively deteriorating pattern that was affecting [Whan's] performance and focus on the job” in the time he was mentoring Whan. The field training Whan was ordered to successfully complete was a nine-week course; Whan made it just over 2 1/2 weeks before Baker terminated the training and forwarded the outstanding issues to his superiors.

Whan began under Baker's tutelage Sept. 14. A week later, Baker reported his first issue with Whan's performance after the pair came upon an Indiana State trooper who had a motorist pulled over. Police protocol calls for officers to stop and check on other officers whenever possible, but when Whan and Baker rolled up to the trooper and Whan began calling in the stop to dispatch, an issue arose with the call.

Baker said that frustrated Whan, who, rather than get out of the cruiser to assist the trooper and make the call-in from his shoulder radio, remained in the cruiser visibly upset.

That incident was followed five days later by three more severe issues in one shift on Sept. 26. First, Whan and Baker were summoned to a call for service by a woman who stated she witnessed a suspicious vehicle in her neighborhood that could be involved in a string of robberies the area had experienced recently. Baker said Whan conducted himself adequately as the two took down the woman's statements and information, but once back in the cruiser he expressed his displeasure with even being sent to the scene.

“He said, ‘This is bull----, why are we even taking this bull---- report?'” Baker recalled, adding that Whan then became red in the face and began clenching his fists in anger.

That event was followed by an apparent example of road rage while Whan and Baker were responding to an officer-assist call. Baker said Whan encountered motorists and pedestrians “in his way” while responding to the call, and he let out a profanity-laced tirade during what Baker described as a bout of “fiery anger.”

That shift closed with a traffic stop that Baker said was as bad as bad could be. Whan and Baker pulled a woman over for an undisclosed violation, and the woman was reportedly highly uncooperative with Whan. That made Whan's tactics and demeanor worse, Baker said. Baker said the stop got so bad that he was forced to let the woman drive off while he sat Whan down to discuss his issues.

The final straw for Baker came Oct. 3, when Whan and Baker pulled over a speeding motorist who turned out to be intoxicated. After placing the man under arrest and during the transport to Allen County Lockup, Baker said he began to question the man about his claims that he was a New Orleans police officer.

The man, Baker said, became uncooperative and dishonest, which upset Baker. Whan apparently took issue with that, telling Baker that he should not incessantly coach him on anger management if he himself gets angry. Baker explained, after releasing the man to Lockup personnel, that anger is a tool that can be used to build a case, but it's paramount to have control over it.

Baker said Whan became highly agitated at that point, so much so that Baker ordered him to pull the cruiser over and relinquish the driving privileges. It was that night that Baker discontinued Whan's training, saying he was “uncorrectable.”

“I have never seen anyone act like that,” Baker told the board.

Whan's attorney, Tim Stuckey, told the board his client suffers from a sleep disorder, and that, mixed with his working third shift and the building issues with Baker, led to his anger.

In defense of Whan, Stuckey praised the officer's successes in the academic portion of Baker's training.