By Gregory Childress

gchildress@heraldsun.com;

918-1046

Chapel Hill — An internal investigation released Tuesday cleared several police officers of any wrongdoing in the alleged racial profiling of a downtown businessman.

The lead investigator, Capt. Jeff Clark, has recommended that all officers involved in the case be exonerated.

“For our part, we consider it the end of the matter,” said Police Chief Brian Curran.

According to Clark’s report, no evidence was found to support Charles Brown’s claim that he was racially profiled and mistreated when he was stopped and handcuffed by police June 1 after they mistook him for another man.

Brown, the owner of Precise Kutz & Styles, filed a complaint after he was detained for nearly 40 minutes shortly after leaving his East Rosemary Street shop. Police thought they had nabbed Cumun Fearrington, a man for whom they held outstanding warrants and who police say has facial features similar to Brown’s.

On Tuesday, Brown said he was not surprised by the findings of the Police Department’s internal investigation.

“The police, they’re going to stick together,” Brown said. “That’s what they do. They’re not going to say anything bad about a fellow officer.”

Brown said he plans to consult with his attorney, Al McSurley, then decide what step to take next.

Named in Brown’s complaint were police officers David Funk, Michael Castro, Keith Sabanosh, Greg Taylor and Doug Williams.

“In Captain Clark’s investigation, no evidence was found to suggest that these officers acted inappropriately toward Mr. Brown,” the report stated.

Brown was placed in investigative detention, which law enforcement officers have the authority to do when they have reasonable suspicion to make an investigative stop, the report said. And under those circumstances “the suspect is not free to walk away, and officers may use reasonable force to prevent the suspect from doing so.

“Physically restraining suspects after lawfully commanding them to stop is a means for officers to encourage compliance,” according to the report.

Although the officers were exonerated, Clark did recommend outfitting all patrol cars with in-car camera systems to provide “protection that would benefit both officers and citizens.”

Curran said about 15 cars have cameras in them, but no camera was present the night that Brown was detained. He said federal stimulus money would be used to equip all of the town’s patrol cars with cameras.

In addition, Clark recommended adding a new policy that requires officers to write and submit a report anytime he or she places someone in investigative detention.

“I think it would be a good idea to help us keep better track of that activity,” Curran said.