Smoky Mountain Journal -Court Overturns Drug Conviction Of Knoxville Man, Publicly Rebukes Police Officer Who For Third Time in Seven-Year Career




The Great Smoky Mountain Journal Source: Tuesday, January 01, 2019 02:45 PM

Court Overturns Drug Conviction Of Knoxville Man, Publicly Rebukes Police Officer Who For Third Time in Seven-Year Career
A Tennessee police officer repeatedly accused of using illegal tactics to arrest black men has been publicly rebuked by judges for the third time in his seven-year career. A case in the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals marks the third time judges rebuked tactics of Knoxville police Officer Thomas Turner as legally flawed and dismissed charges. The court recently overturned drug-possession convictions against 52-year-old Calvin Lyndell Dibrell. The court ruled Turner and fellow officers in 2014 illegally detained Dibrell and searched him despite finding no legal cause. Prescription painkillers were found in Dibrell's car and he was later sentenced to 12 years in prison. Police spokesman Darrell DeBusk says no disciplinary action has been taken against Turner in connection with racial profiling allegations.