Poplar Bluff Streets Chief Pumps Shotgun To Tease Coworker: Cops

POPLAR BLUFF, MO — Poplar Bluff Streets Superintendent Denis Kearbey has been charged with unlawful use of a weapon after state troopers said he brought a short-barrel shotgun to the clerk's office, pumped it several times and asked if a female clerk was scared.

In an interview with Missouri State Highway Patrol, Kearbey apparently said "he did take the firearm into the office and was teasing (the clerk) about being a liberal," Trooper Matthew B. Foster wrote in a probable cause statement. Kearbey initially denied that he brought a gun to the office, the Highway Patrol said, but troopers searched his home and found a short-barrel shotgun under a bed.

Kearbey, 53, said he didn't threaten anyone in the Sept. 12 incident. He pleaded not guilty on Monday and was freed on $25,000 bond.

Kearbey's attorney, Daniel Moore, said Wednesday that Kearbey has a right to carry a firearm and denies any wrongdoing.

"Fortunately the Second Amendment gives you quite a bit of protection," Moore said.

According to the city, Kearbey began his career with the city in 1991 working part-time at the cemetery department. He transferred to the street department the following year to work as a full time laborer and worked his way up as a tractor driver, a truck driver, street sweeper driver and eventually construction supervisor in 2005. Kearbey was promoted to interim street superintendent in February 2015 and appointed permanently to the position by the city manager the following year.

Poplar Bluff, with 17,000 residents, is 150 miles south of St. Louis.

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