TALLAHASSEE — The head of the Florida Highway Patrol resigned Monday following a six-month investigation that concluded he was negligent in his duties in falsifying records.

Col. Christopher A. Knight, 50, was not available for comment Monday evening. FHP spokesman Maj. Ernesto Duarte confirmed Knight’s resignation Monday evening.

Details of the investigation that led to Knight’s departure were not available. But word of the inquiry spread throughout the agency this summer, and led to an unusual July e-mail from Knight to FHP employees.
Rumors throughout the Patrol range from me being placed on administrative leave, to being asked to resign, to being dismissed.

To continue to perpetuate these types of rumors can have negative effects on me personally, our division, and the entire department,” the e-mail stated. “A simple request: Please discontinue the rumors and concentrate on our mission of keeping highways safe.”

Knight, a graduate of Venice High School and Florida State University, joined the FHP in 1981 as a trooper in Southwest Florida. He was named FHP’s director in 2001.

Clean-cut and youthful, Knight was the public face of the state’s most visible law enforcement unit. Just last month, his picture was placed on billboards in a campaign reminding motorists to move their vehicles after minor accidents.

Knight had long been a rising star in the agency. At 25, he was named police officer of the year by a Charlotte County group. In 1988, he was credited with saving a 15-month-old girl’s life as she suffered a seizure at a Bradenton mall.

With FBI training and a slew of commendations, Knight steadily rose through the agency. After stints in Miami, Bradenton and Palatka, he ran the agency’s training academy and oversaw a north Florida region.

The Florida Highway Patrol is part of the state’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. In February, Fred Dickinson — the DHSMV executive director who appointed Knight as FHP director — left the agency after nearly 15 years as its chief.

With a budget of $222 million, the FHP has nearly 2,400 employees with about 1,800 troopers.

Knight will vacate the post immediately but his official resignation will not take effect until October due to accumulated time earned during his 26 years with FHP.
Knight was involved in the controversial firing last year of Maj. Rebecca Tharpe after a Herald-Tribune investigation showed a trooper in Manatee County continued driving her state vehicle despite six accidents within one year.

Tharpe, who was FHP’s highest-ranking female officer, oversaw Troop F, which consists of FHP operations in a 10-county area including Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties.

In a candid and critical memo in June 2006, Knight cited numerous “management failures in Troop F.” Knight said Tharpe’s firing was “something that should have been done long ago” and blamed her for “weak leadership and insubordination” while saying she has a “pattern of taking action against the department when she does not receive promotions or positions that she believes are her inherent right because of her gender.”

Knight also wrote that Tharpe was “recruiting” fellow female FHP officers for legal action against the agency.

Tharpe sued FHP in 2003 on a claim of discrimination. That suit was settled in August 2005. The details of that settlement were not available Monday evening.
Tharpe sued FHP again in January, saying her termination was retaliation for the previous suit and that she was subjected to an “ongoing pattern and practice of harassment and discrimination due to her female gender.” That case in the Middle District of the U.S. District Court is ongoing.

Tharpe has also been involved in litigation over the alleged refusal of FHP to release public records. A Leon County judge ruled in her favor; the state has appealed the decision.

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