Ex-reserve officers charged with carrying guns on school property

Tuesday, May 9th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- An incident last month that has left two former Jennings reserve police officers facing felony charges is all a misunderstanding, one of the former lawmen says.

Tulsa County prosecutors filed felony charges Monday against Peter Vernon Broderick and Thomas Pittman, whom authorities said wore pistols and posed as gang task force officers at two Tulsa high schools.

Broderick, 24, and Pittman, 23, also face a misdemeanor for impersonating gang task force officers.

The two were supposed to check security at East Central and Memorial high schools on April 20, the first anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings in Colorado.

But witnesses said Broderick and Pittman wore combat boots, holstered pistols and jerseys bearing "gang task force" lettering.

Broderick allegedly grabbed one student's arm, "cursed at her and threatened to take her to jail," according to an affidavit.

The men were fired from volunteer positions with the Jennings police department on April 24.

Broderick called the incident "one big misunderstanding," while Pittman denied the two posed as gang officers.