Thorpe suspended without pay, license revoked

There is more information tonight on the weekend arrest of Navassa Police Chief Ricky Thorpe.

Thorpe is suspended without pay and his license is revoked for 30 days, after a
DWI arrest.

WWAY wanted to know what this means for cases in which he was the arresting officer.

The fate of these cases will be up to the Brunswick County D.A.’s office.

That office is still waiting for paperwork from Highway Patrol, so no decision has been made yet.

A state trooper arrested Thorpe early Saturday morning.

Wilmington defense attorney Chad Hogston says in situations like this, the credibility of the arresting officer is greatly damaged and many times, cases are thrown out.

Hogston says the D.A.’s office could either drop cases in which Thorpe was the arresting officer, or say to move forward with them because he’s innocent until proven guilty.

Either way, Hogston says it gives defense attorneys ammunition.

“I’ve had as situation where I’ve had multiple DWI cases pending with one charging officer, that charging officer gets a DWI charge and maybe, I can’t remember if they were convicted or not, but that disposed of all those cases, so it is advantageous to our clients when that situation occurs,” said Hogston.

Hogston said Chief Thorpe’s arrest shows nobody is above the law.

Thorpe’s trial is scheduled to begin in mid August.