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| NEWS > 22 July 2008 |
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StarNewsOnline.com - Wilmingto
22 July 2008
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Navassa Police Department, NC
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Navassa police chief suspended
A police chief in a Brunswick County town was suspended Tuesday after being charged with driving drunk in his patrol car.
Police said Navassa Police Chief Ricky Junior Thorpe crossed the center line early Saturday and hit a speed limit sign on a rural road, landing in a ditch.
Thorpe, 44, was charged with driving while intoxicated and driving left of the center line at 4:46 a.m. Saturday, according to a ticket filed in the Brunswick County Courthouse. Thorpe’s blood-alcohol content was 0.27, more than three times the legal limit of 0.08, according to the citation.
On Tuesday, the Navassa Town Council suspended Thorpe without pay, pending the outcome of an inquiry by town officials into the incident, Mayor Eulis Willis said.
A Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office deputy drove by the patrol car Saturday and radioed Emergency Services for a tow truck. Emergency Services called the N.C. Highway Patrol. According to that agency, Thorpe was headed east on N.C. 1432, which is Old Mill Road, going 35 mph in a 45 mph zone, when he ran off the right side of the road. The crash occurred one-tenth of a mile east of the intersection of Lake Shore Drive in Navassa.
Thorpe left the scene before the trooper arrived, according to Sgt. C.C. Albritton of the Highway Patrol. Sgt. Timothy Daniels, the supervisor on duty at the time, called Thorpe and then drove to his house and arrested him. Thorpe lives at 419 Old Mill Road.
Willis said he didn’t know whether Thorpe was on duty when the incident occurred.
Navassa, which is about six miles west of Wilmington, has a population of 1,683 people, according to the U.S. Census. Thorpe, chief since 2002, oversees a two-member department.
On Tuesday afternoon, the unmarked patrol car Thorpe was driving Saturday was parked behind a house off Old Mill Road, and it revealed some dents and paint damage on the front driver’s side. No one answered the door when a reporter knocked about 4 p.m. On Tuesday night, Willis said Navassa’s insurance would cover repairs to the car.
Thorpe’s arrest this weekend wasn’t the first time he had run into trouble as police chief.
In 2004, the State Bureau of Investigation filed embezzlement-related charges against him regarding hundreds of dollars confiscated from a drug bust. The SBI began investigating the department after a police officer was fired.
At the time, Thorpe said he used the money to buy police equipment without seeking approval from the town council.
An SBI spokeswoman said Tuesday that the agency investigated Thorpe and filed charges. But the Brunswick County Courthouse had no record of them.
Libby Carlisle, executive assistant to Brunswick County District Attorney Rex Gore, said Gore investigated issues with the Navassa Police Department. As a result, Thorpe underwent additional training on law enforcement ethics and administrative issues, but he wasn’t prosecuted.
Saturday’s arrest came as Navassa’s police department is dealing with a shortage of officers.
Former Navassa police lieutenant Johnny Starks faces a DWI charge Thursday in New Hanover County District Court. Starks was charged after being pulled over Dec. 29 at a New Hanover County DWI checkpoint. He was removed from his duties, Willis said in March.
Willis said Thorpe has been working extra hours because a police officer left the department about a month ago. The department is interviewing officers and has several positions open, Willis said. The town council plans to ask one of the department’s two officers to act as interim chief while Thorpe is suspended, Willis said.
“We’re way understaffed right now,” said Navassa Cpl. Melissa Hinnant, who said it has been that way on and off for the past several months. She said ideally, the department should have four or five officers in addition to a chief, but she and Detective Wendell Graham are the only ones who work there. She said the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office has been covering for the town at night.
With Thorpe’s charges, “we haven’t gotten together to find out what exactly is going to transpire,” she said. “We’re functioning as a police department.”
Willis said Thorpe has been a good police chief for the town, but he said it’s a difficult balance to be a politician and the town’s leading law enforcement officer in a small town where you know the people who live there.
“It’s not an easy job at all to try to live up to people’s expectations as well as to do whatever you were hired to do,” he said. “It’s almost as tough as being a mayor. With all the pitfalls, he’s done us a pretty decent job.”
That said, Willis said he understands that Thorpe agreed to be police chief and that it comes with extra responsibility.
“I hate he’ll have to go through all the scrutiny,” Willis said, but “it comes with the territory. Being a police chief or being a police officer is one of the most stressful jobs there is.”
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