A woman who claims she was wrongly arrested for DUI by a Statham Police officer is now filing a lawsuit against the department, alleging the arrests were a means of creating profit.
Kelly Pickens told WGCL-TV in Atlanta that she was pulled over in 2015 by Officer Marc Lofton and arrested for DUI for taking doctor-prescribed anti-depressants.
Her case was later dismissed.
Lofton, who left Statham Police earlier this year, was recently hired — and dismissed — by the Lumpkin County Sheriff's Office.
Pickens claimed that the year Lofton became employed by the Statham Police Department, officials expected the department's revenue to jump from $75,000 to $250,000 — proof, she says, that the arrests were an intentional act.
The Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia found that Lofton made "significant errors" in several of his DUI arrests, but the agency never alleged that he did anything illegal in the process.
The 26-page lawsuit names Statham Police Chief Allan Johnston.
