JacksonHeraldTODAY

Jefferson Police Department officer Stephen Taylor who got into a bar fight while off duty, was charged Tuesday in connection with the incident. Taylor was charged with one count of misdemeanor battery. He turned himself in to the Jackson County Jail Tuesday and bonded out on a $2,000 bond.

Taylor remains on administrative leave with pay from the JPD after being involved in an altercation at Mike’s Down Under bar. JPD Chief Joe Wirthman said Wednesday that Taylor will remain on paid leave while the department does an internal investigation of the incident. JPD Major Dave Hill is doing the internal probe, he said.

Taylor and James Tyler Beck, 22, reportedly got into a shoving contest at the bar around midnight on Aug. 24 over comments about the color of Taylor’s shirt.

In Beck’s version of events to JPD officers who responded to the incident, he said he had made a comment to a third party in the bar about Taylor’s pink shirt. The comment was not made in Taylor’s presence, he said, but someone told Taylor about it.

Beck said he stood up to leave the bar when Taylor confronted him about the pink shirt comments. Beck said he put his hand on Taylor’s shoulder and told him he didn’t want any problems, but that Taylor responded by pushing him in the chest and then hitting him with a closed fist on the left side of the face.

Taylor told officers that Beck had pushed him and that he acted in self-defense. He said the incident had stemmed from a verbal altercation he blamed on Beck, saying Beck was upset over a woman who was "hanging out" with him.

A blood alcohol test of both men taken by the JPD reportedly showed Taylor at .183 while Beck was .00.