# Evidence not planted; suspect admits having 'weed'



## FruityBud (Feb 28, 2008)

COOKEVILLE -- Carlos Farrell has admitted that he did have marijuana when Cookeville Police Officer Chris Melton arrested him last June.

That changes everything in a controversy over a videotape of that arrest and a lawsuit Farrell filed recently alleging that Melton planted marijuana on him, police officials say.

But Farrell's lawyer, Blair Durham of Nashville, has said the lawsuit, which also alleges rights violations via excessive force by police, is still on.

The confession by Farrell that he did have marijuana with him that night last June came late Wednesday as part of the TBI's investigation into the matter, and Police Chief Bob Terry confirmed last night that Officer Melton would return to work today. Melton was placed on leave with pay last week after the lawsuit was filed alleging that Melton slipped a small package of marijuana into Farrell's pocket while searching him during an arrest.

Chief Terry also said that Officer Melton voluntarily took a polygraph test concerning the whole issue and passed it.

"I'm glad this chapter is closed and Chris can go back to work," Chief Terry said. "He's a very hard working officer, and I hate that this happened to him and his family."

What happened to the officer was a firestorm of controversy over the video tape of the arrest, which was shown on Nashville television several times in recent days. Farrell and his attorney said the tape shows Melton planting evidence.

But Officer Melton said the tape shows him reaching into his own pocket to check his squad car's video system to make sure it was recording as is required by department policy.

Reportedly, as the TBI investigated the allegation of planted evidence, agents remarked on the possibility that Farrell's fingerprints might be found on the bag of marijuana and Farrell soon admitted that he did have "weed" in his possession at the time of the arrest.

District Attorney Tony Craighead confirmed that the admission by Farrell concludes his inquiry into the officer's conduct at the arrest.

"He was interviewed with his lawyer present and admitted he had marijuana," Craighead said. "The officer passed a polygraph test. And when the video tape was enhanced, there is nothing visible in the officer's hand. He was simply checking his car's video recording system."

Craighead said the recent controversy came from "a sequence of events which looked like something it was not."

"I'm glad we looked into it and got to the bottom of it," Craighead said.

Chief Terry expressed an array of thoughts on the developments in the case, describing how hard the past week has been on the Cookeville Police Dept.

"It is incredibly difficult to know what the truth is while an investigation is going on and not be able to comment due to legal considerations. And I don't blame people for looking at that tape and seeing what they thought happened.

"But it is very disappointing that Chris was not afforded the same presumption of innocence that we give to common criminals. It's very difficult for us to just sit still and know that our officer -- from what we saw and knew but could not talk about -- was innocent, while so many people made assumptions based on a one-dimensional video. All members of the police department felt bad for Chris because we knew he hadn't done anything wrong."

Even so, Terry believes he was right to call for a TBI investigation "not to go after this officer, but to exonerate him," he said.

"I wanted to make sure we avoided even the appearance of wrongdoing. We work hard every day to keep the public trust, and I want to assure the people of Cookeville that we have an excellent police department which does its best to serve this community. We did the right thing from the beginning, and I'm not surprised by this outcome."

Chief Terry also noted that while he is glad questions of planting evidence have been answered, other aspects of the arrest video are still under study in the police department.

"There are several other things about the incident that we will be examining and addressing, such as the way the stop was handled and the language that was used by officers. We will be investigating how the stop developed and the officers' reactions to it."

http://www.herald-citizen.com/index.cfm?event=news.view&id=60FD600C-19B9-E2E2-67E94BC6CDEE05BD


----------

