A year-old grudge over a traffic stop led Lee Charles Harrison to search for the arresting deputy’s email address and send him letters threatening to kill him.
Harrison, 42, was convicted this week of terroristic threats made against the deputy, Douglas County District Attorney spokesman David Emadi said in a news release.
Harrison was pulled over Jan. 8, 2016, for various violations, Emadi said. He didn’t have a license on him but gave his name, allowing the deputy to confirm Harrison didn’t have one at all in Georgia.
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That’s when Harrison “became combative with the officer and claimed he was federally permitted to drive because he was not driving in an official capacity for his work, and was merely a traveler,” Emadi said. Officials did not specify where Harrison was employed.
That traffic stop ended with Harrison’s arrest on charges of driving without a license and marijuana possession, and the rest was history — or so officials thought.
A year later, when Harrison received the copies of the police report and details of the traffic stop, he searched online for the deputy’s current and former addresses, Emadi said. The search led him to names of the deputy’s relatives and his email address, where Harrison sent the threatening letters.
Harrison told the deputy he knew where he lived, that cops are “tyrants” and that people like Harrison were justified in killing them, Emadi said.
The deputy reported the threats and moved from his home out of concern for his family. A home security system was installed in the deputy’s current home and his old residence, where a relative moved in, Emadi said.
Assistant District Attorney Joe Cusack said the deputy was a “hard working officer who was professional and polite during a routine traffic stop of someone blatantly ignoring the law, and as a result had to endure serious and frightening threats against himself and his family.”
This is not Harrison’s first run-in with officers.
He has been imprisoned on a slew of charges in metro Atlanta, including theft by receiving stolen property in Fulton and DeKalb counties, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections. Harrison also faced credit card theft charges out of Cobb County.
He will be sentenced Tuesday.
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