Sheriff candidate claims arrest 'politically motivated' but offers no evidence
Shedarren Fanning says his brief time locked up in the Douglas County jail reinforced his decision to run for sheriff.
DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. - One of the three candidates for Douglas County sheriff brings to the race a unique experience: the only who’s been locked up in the Douglas County Jail.
The drunk driving charge against Shedarren Fanning was ultimately dismissed. He’s running against another challenger, Cyrus Colley, and the two-term incumbent Tim Pounds.
"That was my calling to say you know what, I’m going to run for the same county that is practicing unethical actions," Fanning told a group of voters at a meet and greet event last month.
He claimed the January 8, 2023, DUI stop was "politically motivated" but provided no evidence.
By all accounts, the arrest was straightforward. It started around 1:30AM along I-20. According to the Georgia State Patrol incident report, the trooper clocked Fanning driving 105 miles an hour.
Fanning explained he was trying to get home because his child was having an allergic reaction and was headed to the hospital.
But the trooper wrote, "I could smell an odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from the driver."
Fanning refused all field sobriety tests. The trooper got a search warrant to test his blood.
When the results eventually came back, it showed Fanning had no alcohol in his system.
The DUI charge was dismissed. Fanning paid a $500 fine for the speeding charge.
"I think it was politically motivated because the traffic stop happened shortly after my announcement of candidacy," Fanning said.
Shedarren Fanning is trying to unseat Tim Pounds who first took office in 2017. Chris Colley is the third candidate in the race.
Sheriff Pounds told the FOX 5 I-Team "it was months and months before I knew he’d been arrested."
Was he somehow behind a state trooper’s decision to arrest Fanning?
"Nope," he insisted. "I definitely deny that 120%."
A spokesman for the Georgia State Patrol said "DPS is aware of the accusations made by Mr. Fanning. There was an investigation conducted, and TFC Freeman was found to have operated within departmental guidelines and state law."
Fanning said someone recently put copies of his mugshot on mailboxes in the community.
"I think it’s a parlor trick" he said." I think the way you run your campaign is the way you’re going to run your office."
APD Lt. Shedarren Fleming works to unchain a protester who climbed a construction crane to protest the new police training center. (APD)
Fanning, 35, is an Atlanta Police lieutenant commander. A voter in Douglas County opposed to his candidacy posted APD video obtained through the Open Records Act that raised different questions about Fanning.
The video — recorded on August 28, 2023 — is from Fanning’s body camera as he drove through downtown Atlanta. He talks on the phone with a female subordinate officer about their relationship.
"It makes it feel more weird knowing that I’m your supervisor," he said. "Whether you loving somebody or you care about somebody whether we remain friends or whether one day a ring’s on your finger… I’m still gonna be loving toward you because it’s easy to love somebody."
The FOX 5 I-Team obtained its own copy of the videos. We read some of the comments to Fanning and asked whether they rang a bell.
"How is something I don’t know who sent it rings a bell?" he said.
Those videos even made it to Atlanta City Council. In a Public Safety Committee meeting April 22, Councilman Antonio Lewis asked command staff about Fanning’s comments.
"The videos that I received of Lt. Fanning, we shouldn’t have a person doing these type of things," Lewis said. "I’d at least like to know something about it."
The FOX 5 I-Team later emailed Fanning the videos and transcript of his conversations with that subordinate APD officer.
He did not respond.