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SHELBY A sergeant with the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office testified in court Monday that Chief Deputy Barry Taylor took charge of a drunk driving suspect after the sergeant arrested the suspect early Feb. 25, 2007.
Steve Dombrowski said Taylor took the suspect - a doctor from the Denver, N.C., area - into his office and emerged about 20 minutes later, saying the suspect had blown .07 on a portable testing device. The suspect was released from custody without charges.
"He (Taylor) told me I was doing a good job and to keep up the good work," Dombrowski said in Cleveland County Superior Court in Shelby.
Dombrowski said he didn't question Taylor about the breathalyzer reading because "I respect my superior officer. I respect what he told me."
Taylor, who was suspended with pay in July, is charged with obstructing justice by helping an acquaintance get out of a drunken driving charge. The alleged incident was investigated by the State Bureau of Investigation.
If convicted, he would be sentenced up to 10 months in jail. The trial was moved to Shelby because of pretrial publicity.
A furor erupted around the Lincoln sheriff's office more than six months ago with a blog by a father crusading for his daughter, a former deputy convicted of misdemeanor larceny for stealing a camera during an investigation.
The blog became a forum for swapping stories of cronyism and illegal activity in the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office. The majority of Lincoln county commissioners have since called for Sheriff Tim Daugherty to resign.
After a jury was selected Monday afternoon, Assistant District Attorney Gwynn Radeker told the panel of six men and six women that on Feb. 25, 2007, Dombrowski and two other officers were running a license check on N.C. 16 in eastern Lincoln County when a car didn't stop and drove slowly through the check point.
Dombrowski followed and stopped the vehicle, which was driven by Daniel Senft, Radeker said.
On the way with Dombrowski to the Detention Center in Lincolnton, about a 30-minute drive, Radeker said Senft asked to make a call to his wife. She became upset, Radeker said, and called a person she knew, Tabatha Willis, an employee of Daniel Senft's medical office.
Radeker said Willis was also Chief Deputy Taylor's girlfriend.
Through Taylor's intervention, Senft was never taken to the Detention Center's room for blood-alcohol testing, Radeker said.
Defense attorney Rick Beam said Dombrowski wasn't clear on many of the details of his actions on the night Senft was arrested.
Commenting on the way Taylor tested Senft at the sheriff's office, Beam said Taylor "didn't obstruct justice. He actually did his job."
Testimony resumes at 9:30 a.m. today in the Cleveland County Law Enforcement Center.
