Reserve cop followed woman to Kannapolis

BY JENNIFER MOXLEY
SALISBURY POST

But after an investigation, the man turned out to be a Salisbury reserve police officer in his personal vehicle.

Salisbury reserve officer Lenn Daman followed the Kannapolis woman, whose identity is being withheld, on March 13 to her residence and pulled up behind her in the driveway.

“He said he was from the Salisbury Police Department and ‘You’ll be getting a ticket in the mail,’ ” Sgt. Linda Canzona of the Kannapolis Police Department said Wednesday.

“He saw a violation here in the city, that he thought to be a bad violation.He was in his personal vehicle. He was waiting for them to pull over somewhere because he didn’t have his blue light, but she ended up going to her home,” Salisbury Chief Chris Herring said this morning.

Canzona said the woman dropped her husband off at the Food Lion distribution center and the suspect continued to follow her from there along N.C. 29 through China Grove.

Chief Herring said that Daman’s original intent was to get the motorist’s license plate number and he “ended up approaching her with his badge.

“He is probably our strongest reserve officer. He has put in a whole lot of hours. He is even at the level that he can patrol by himself,” Chief Herring said.

“We are looking at the incident as a whole, seeing if there were any policy violations on his part or any violations on our part,” Salisbury Capt. Kenneth Stutts said this morning.

Stutts explained that reserve officers are “volunteers with similar arrest powers of a regular officer. They don’t have patrol cars, but they can be assigned to them.”

When an officer pulls someone over, “you can expect to see normally some type of blue lights and probably more than likely a uniformed officer if he is in an unmarked car,” Stutts said. “But there can be occasions that he is not in uniform … but they will show their badge and their police ID.”

The woman reported that Officer Daman showed his badge. “The legit officer pulled the individual over. They should realize from his actions, that he is a legit officer,” Stutts said.

For motorists unsure of someone following them or an officer’s credentials, Stutts said anyone with a cell phone should dial 911 and stay on the line with communications and they will find out who the officer is.

If you suspect you are being followed, Canzona advises you to go to a well-lit area or a police department to keep yourself safe, as well as the officer.

In addition, a motorist should make a few intentional turns to see if the person is following them.

“It is better to make a longer trip than to lead someone to your home,”Canzona said.