Court Docs: Delphi Chief Lied Under Oath Regarding Man's Meth Arrest

Source: Dave Bangert / @DaveBangert

DELPHI, Ind. — The police chief in Delphi is being accused of lying under oath during a recent bench trial for a man arrested on drug charges.

The man who was arrested during a traffic stop in September was found not guilty by the judge, who said Delphi police chief Nate Lamar lied about the pretenses leading up to a search of the man’s car without a warrant.

The man was pulled over for “having a blue license plate light”, according to court documents. While the traffic stop was going on, Chief Lamar was seen on body-worn camera footage noticing a locked box in the car. Lamar is then seen returning to his squad car to look up the man’s criminal history.

When police detained the man inside a gas station Lamar is then seen searching the car, again, without a warrant.

During that search, Lamar found a small amount of meth inside the locked box.

Lamar told the court he pulled the man over after seeing a blue plate light and “suspicious driving behavior.” Lamar testified that the search was an inventory search since he intended to impound the car.

Lamar was then asked during the trial if he suspected there were drugs in the car before conducting the search he said no. But, Lamar’s body camera footage shows him looking up the man’s criminal history beforehand.

The judge found this to be sufficient to find the man not guilty due to “evasive and misleading” testimony from Chief Lamar.

Court Docs: Delphi Police Chief Lied Under Oath Regarding Man’s Meth Arrest was originally published on wibc.com