Thomas Manning III, 57, was detained on March 13th outside his house in Tabor City. Manning, who had been driving home from work, was charged with driving without a license, resisting a public officer, and flee/elude arrest in a motor vehicle, which is a felony charge in North Carolina.
The sheriff's office alleges that Manning failed to pull over for a traffic stop on Highway 904, and intentionally tried to flee from the police. But Manning told WHQR that he didn't notice police lights behind him on the highway.
"I didn't even know they were behind me until probably right before I turned on the driveway [for my house]," he said. "They hit the lights maybe about 300-200 feet from the driveway."
According to the incident report, Manning was spotted by deputies at the intersection of 904 and Lester Watts Road. That's about half a mile — or a two-minute drive — from his house. Manning said that after he saw the lights, he pulled into his driveway, parked, and got out to see what was going on.
"They just slammed me into the ground," he said. "Somebody's punching me in the back of my head — that's how my head got cut open."
Warning: The following video contains strong language and may be upsetting to some viewers.
A video obtained by WHQR shows Manning lying cuffed on the ground outside his house, while two plainclothes deputies search his work truck. In the video, Manning alleges that the officers beat him, injured his arm, and "bust [his] face open."
Manning's wife and two children were home when the arrest occurred. In the video, his son asked the deputies why they were searching the truck. One officer pointed toward the door and said, "I saw him putting something somewhere, that's why!"
"Why would you pull a gun on someone like that?" Manning's wife asked.
"Because when somebody runs like that, that's what we do," the officer said. "We don't know what he has in the vehicle. He runs for a reason."
Deputies say that he had sped up to 90 miles an hour upon seeing the deputy’s car, which Manning denies.
"My truck is a diesel from 1999 that was loaded with 3,000 pounds of equipment," he said. "It's impossible to do that in six-tenths of a mile."
Manning says his work truck has since been impounded. He's still recuperating from his injuries
One deputy identified himself as Mark Corder, and said they were arresting Manning for "felony flee to elude." Manning also identified Corder, Detective Michael Kellihan, and Lieutenant Donald Britt by name; Kellihan’s name is listed on the incident report. The three deputies would be filmed four days later arresting Taplin, who was later charged with the same crime as Manning.
CCSO said Taplin was detained late last Monday night after he led several deputies on a high-speed chase. During the pursuit, three deputies were injured after flipping their vehicle in a collision. CCSO told the News Reporter that as of Thursday, all deputies were at home recovering from their injuries.
After a video of Taplin's arrest — which depicted several officers dragging him to the ground and one kicking him in the ribs — started circulating on Facebook, Sheriff Bill Rogers announced an internal investigation into the incident.
"The Columbus County Sheriff's Office is in full cooperation with the district attorney's office of Jon David and officers of the State Bureau of Investigations regarding this incident," he said in a video, also posted to Facebook.
It's unclear how long the investigation will take. SBI spokesperson Chad Flowers confirmed SBI's involvement in the matter, but said he had no updates. CCSO has not responded to multiple requests for comment from WHQR.
