A Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper accused in a lawsuit of sexually harassing a Campbell County motorist has a history of policy violations since he was hired in 2015, including shoddy evidence handling, failing to record his interactions with motorists and dangerous decision-making, records show.
In one case, State Trooper Isaiah Lloyd accused his lieutenant of lying – despite emails and court records that contradicted what he said, records showed. Despite that, a THP superior overturned Lloyd’s suspension in that case, saying Lloyd was “a young trooper with just two years on the job” who needed remedial training, not punishment.
Lloyd is now accused in a lawsuit of sexually harassing Patricia Wilson, 29, when he twice stopped her in Campbell County in August in the span of three hours. In that case, Lloyd claims he cannot remember the four-minute-long second stop. He failed to record it – though THP policy required that he do so.
In the first stop, Lloyd ordered Wilson, who was clad in shorts, a camisole and T-shirt, out of her truck without legal cause, according to a prosecutor’s review. He put his fingers inside her shorts during a search that the prosecutor has since opined he had no legal cause to carry out.
Three hours later, Lloyd was parked alongside the road near Wilson’s home when he made an immediate U-turn when her truck came into view, pulled her over and kept her there for four minutes. Wilson, who thought Lloyd was recording as required, said Lloyd commented, “We have to stop meeting like this,” before noticing her children in her truck.
History of dubious claims
Lloyd later claimed Wilson’s truck was swerving, but his dash cam footage belied that. He also claimed Wilson told him during the first stop that she had taken a prescription sleep medicine before he told her to get out of her truck. His body microphone audio belied that, too.
THP emails and court records belied Lloyd’s defense in another case revealed in the newest documents received as part of USA TODAY NETWORK-Tennessee’s ongoing Public Records Act request of the entirety of Lloyd’s personnel file.
In that case, Lloyd had twice been accused by Lt. Stacey Heatherly of mishandling evidence and cash seized in July from suspected drug dealers.
A state prosecutor is criticizing the actions of a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper accused of groping a Campbell County woman he twice pulled over within three hours as “inconsistent with his training” and his agency’s own rulebook. Angela Gosnell/News Sentinel
Heatherly said Lloyd, among other policy violations, dropped $1,529 into a Campbell County Sheriff’s Office lock box without filing any seizure paperwork – including required notice to the person from whom it was taken – missed the deadline to seize it and had to get an extension from a judge.
Heatherly said she already had warned Lloyd about his handling of $709 seized cash and his failure to properly label and package seized drugs when Lloyd within weeks had again violated THP policies. Capt. Jessie Brooks recommended Lloyd be suspended a day without pay.
But Lloyd insisted Heatherly was wrong.
“I allegedly did not have my seizure paperwork turned in within my allotted time limit, but I have physical proof with a judge’s signature with the date to which was turned in within my five-day limit,” he wrote in an appeal form.
“My lieutenant also had a copy of this the day it was completed, but it was still a submitted reason for my suspension which doesn’t make since (sic) because it is completely false and she had knowledge of that,” he continued.
Lieutenant has proof
But Heatherly had amassed evidence including emails in which Lloyd admitted he didn’t think he needed to file seizure paperwork for cash.
“You will have to seize it,” THP evidence technician Angelia Jeffers told Lloyd in an email. “Your five days are up to have a judge sign for it. Did you give the defendant the proper paperwork on seizing their monies?”
Lloyd did not answer the question. Instead, he responded, “If my five days are up, what do you want me to do?”
“You can try to get a judge to sign an extension,” Jeffers answered. “You will have to give defendant notice of seizure.”
The deadline ran out Aug. 5. Court records show Campbell County Chancellor Elizabeth Asbury signed a seizure order for the cash two days later. Only then was the suspect from whom the money was taken notified of the right to challenge the seizure – more than two weeks after it was seized.
State Department of Safety Commissioner David W. Purkey ordered Lloyd suspended a day without pay after reviewing Heatherly’s investigative file.
“Trooper Lloyd, you did not follow policy or procedures for the Tennessee Department of Safety to finalize the seizure of the currency,” he wrote. “This action shows your negligence in the processing of evidence and the importance of making sure the case is properly prosecuted as well as protecting the integrity of the department along with your reputation as a commissioned officer.”
Purkey wrote Lloyd’s “actions will not be accepted or tolerated” and deemed the trooper in “clear violation” of THP’s policies and procedures.
Suspension overturned
Three weeks later, though, Assistant Commissioner Lori Bullard overturned that decision after Lloyd appealed. She never addressed Lloyd’s false claim of having met his deadline or his accusation that Heatherly was lying.
Instead, Bullard said Heatherly should have done more to counsel and train Lloyd.
“In my opinion, Lt. Heatherly should have provided him with a copy (of the policy manual) and gone over the policy and procedure with him to ensure that he was clear about everything,” she wrote.
Lloyd’s personnel file shows he signed documents attesting that he had been both trained in THP policy and procedures and had read them.
Bullard ordered up remedial training and an oral warning. Lloyd already had received oral warnings for other policy violations in his three-year career, including intentionally using his cruiser to crash an ATV on which a seven-year-old boy was riding and failing to record his interactions with motorists.
THP issued another oral warning of the trooper after attorneys Herbert S. Moncier and Jeffrey Coller filed a lawsuit on behalf of Wilson against Lloyd in late January.
The agency cleared Lloyd of sexual harassment and sexual battery but deemed him guilty of violating the law and THP policy in his detention and search of Wilson.
He has been allowed to return to patrol. The lawsuit remains pending.