A top official at the Fayette

County Sheriff's Department will be demoted for "mishandling evidence"

relating to the March arrest of twin brothers who led police on a chase

through Fayetteville after the armed robbery of a grocery store. (See

related stories on this page.)

Ken Rose, an 18-year veteran

of the department, will be demoted two ranks from major to lieutenant,

confirmed sheriff's Maj. Bruce Jordan. Rose is serving a weeklong suspension

without pay at the discretion of Sheriff Randall Johnson based on incomplete

results of a pending internal affairs investigation, Jordan confirmed.

The investigation, which has

not been completed, revealed that Rose withheld a video from a sheriff's

patrol unit that depicted a deputy using physical force to handcuff one

of the armed robbery suspects, according to sources.

Upon his return, Rose will

be reassigned to the metro area customs task force, Jordan said. The position

was previously vacant, and the department participates to assist with

federal investigations which relate to Fayette County.

Rose, who previously served

as head of the department's patrol division, has been replaced on an interim

basis by Capt. Tommy Nations, Jordan said. There will be no change in

the level of service to local residents, Jordan added.

District Attorney William McBroom,

who has viewed a copy of the tape showing the physical arrest, said he

will wait for the final results of the department's internal affairs investigation

before deciding how to proceed. The FBI has also reviewed a copy of the

tape, McBroom confirmed.

Rose was initially suspended

with pay, but that changed to an unpaid suspension after the sheriff determined

evidence in the internal affairs investigation substantiated claims that

Rose withheld evidence.

"We don't feel like he

has done anything criminally wrong," Jordan said. "We just punished

him administratively."

The deputy who used physical

force on armed robbery suspect, Melvin Mitchell, 22, told investigators

that Mitchell refused to show his hands after being ordered to do so,

Jordan said. At the time, officers believed Mitchell might have been hiding

a weapon, Jordan said.

The physical force used by

the deputy was appropriate and no action was taken against him, Jordan

said last week. Mitchell was attempting to evade capture on foot after

wrecking the car he drove away from the Ingles grocery store in south

Fayetteville after it was robbed at gunpoint, police said.

An attorney for Mitchell who

was later charged with murder because his vehicle struck and killed another

motorist claimed police brutally beat him while making the arrest.

"Look at his face,"

attorney Dwight Thomas told a throng of reporters and television cameras

after a recent hearing in Fayette County Magistrate Court.

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