Way to get your name in the news guys, because doing your job and peacefully transporting a psychiatric prisoner to the hospital is too mundane, no excitement and no one knows your name. But pulling over your patrol car and killing the prisoner? Excitement, people know your name and you get a paid vacation.
More about Sgt. Scott Cullen and Adam Daniel Lopp.
Sgt. Scott Culler, a Davidson County deputy, said he shot and killed Lopp on the side of Interstate 40 because he was under attack. Lopp, a 41-year-old patient who was involuntarily committed, has no known criminal history — not even an arrest, and other deputies did not report any other trouble with Lopp, according to local reporting by NBC Charlotte.
The Iredell County Sheriff’s office said there was a confrontation betwen Culler and Lopp after Culler pulled over, and that it’s not clear whether the exchange started in the vehicle, which did not contain a partition sometimes used for transport in police cars. Culler called for back-up, but he shot Lopp before other officers reported to the scene. Culler had no injuries. A spokesman for the department declined to comment to ThinkProgress on whether Lopp was armed or was restrained during transport, but there is no indication that Lopp had access to a weapon.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is assessing whether criminal charges will be filed, and Culler is on administrative leave.
