By Natalie Caula
ncaula@abcnews4.com
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) – A former North Charleston Police officer is off the hook after being accused of throwing a chair through a window at a West Ashley cell phone store.
James Wagner, 38, formerly with the North Charleston Police Department, was charged with damage to real property and public disorderly conduct.
According to a police incident report, Wagner got upset at a T-mobile employee and threw the chair through the glass window in the front of the store on February 22nd on Sam Rittenberg.
Earlier this month, Wagner was granted a continuance to allow his attorney, Edward Phipps, to work out a deal.
"This is basically a civil matter that has been caught up in the criminal justice process, so we're working on to get that resolved amicably amongst everybody," Phipps said on June 1st.
Tuesday, before Judge Veronica Smalls in Charleston City Municipal Court, Wagner's charges were deferred for six months, which means they will be dismissed in December, under certain conditions – full restitution is paid, there is no further criminal conduct, banned from returning to the T-mobile store.
"Jimmy's a hero," Phipps said following the short hearing Tuesday.
The former officer has been in the headlines before. In January 2002 a suspect pointed a pistol at Officer Wagner's head after a traffic stop. A month later, Wagner's gun was reportedly stolen by a suspect during an assault call.
Phipps says the media misrepresented what really happened in the cell phone store incident, making him "sound like a wild man, throwing a chair."
Wagner was not in court Tuesday, but Phipps says the former officer had a dispute with an employee about his cell phone, and he "pushed one of the chairs out of the way."
Phipps said Wagner is now retired.
Wagner approaches a suspect in the above 2002 dash camera video. The suspect later pulled a gun on Wagner and ran from the vehicle.
