A Howard County police officer was acquitted Monday of accusations that he exposed himself to a female 911 dispatcher during a midnight shift in March.
Howard County Circuit Court Judge Diane Leasure ruled that Officer Edward Thatcher, 31, of Pasadena, was not guilty of indecent exposure.
Thatcher?s attorney, Clarke Ahlers, called the judge?s decision “fair” and said the charge against Thatcher was based solely on the female 911 dispatcher?s testimony.
“It was an uncorroborated and unusual accusation,” Ahlers said.
During the trial, which took less than four hours, the dispatcher told Leasure that Thatcher had asked to meet with her outside the county government?s George Howard building in March to help him with a “uniform malfunction.”
When she walked outside, she said Thatcher approached her and exposed himself, asking, “Do you want to see?”
She said that Thatcher later apologized for the incident in an instant message.
The woman testified that she came forward three weeks after the alleged incident because she worried Thatcher?s behavior could harm a resident.
“I thought, ?What would happen if he pulls over some young girl and she agrees to do what he requests??” she said.
Thatcher took the stand and denied the incident ever occurred.
Ahlers argued that the woman had an unnatural “fixation” with Thatcher and called her depiction of the events of that night “improbable.”
He said she had no corroboration for any part of her story.
Thatcher was assigned to administrative duty and lost his police powers while awaiting trial.
Police department spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn did not immediately respond.
Thatcher was the Howard County Police Department?s officer of the month for March 2005.
The Examiner?s policy is not to reveal the name of those involved in a sex-based crime.
