The City of Delphi officially confirmed that Delphi Police Chief Nate LaMar resigned from his position following a judge’s decision to disregard his testimony during a case as questions arose regarding the validity of the statements.
LaMar officially tendered his resignation Thursday night, Jan. 9, amid scrutiny surrounding his testimony in a 2024 drug case that was alleged to be misleading and false. In court documents filed in the case that deemed the defendant “not guilty” of drug-related charges, a local judge accused LaMar of being “dishonest and misleading” in his testimony of a case where he attempted to justify a warrantless car search during a routine traffic stop that resulted in a drug arrest after the discovery of methamphetamine. The judge’s determination that the testimony was false led to the man being found not guilty.
The Delphi Mayor’s Office of Kamron Yates released a statement regarding the resignation, stating “Mayor Yates accepted the resignation and discussed temporary reassignments with the Delphi police officers. The mayor will begin search for a new Chief of Police immediately.” According to the statement, Yates will work closely with officers and the city council to evaluate the direction that will be taken in the search for a new Chief of Police for the Delphi Police Department.
The case began when a man was arrested on Jan. 3, 2024, after LaMar conducted a traffic stop where he alleged that the man had a blue license plate light rather than a white license plate light. The driver proceeded to pull into a gas station parking lot in downtown Delphi where he provided LaMar with his ID, but the man reportedly could not provide proof of insurance. Body camera footage from LaMar’s body camera reportedly showed that he immediately noticed a locked black container that was visible in the man’s car, and LaMar may be heard on the footage stating that he walked to the passenger’s side of the car due to the man’s “suspicious looks and behavior.”
LaMar returned to his squad car and received a lengthy criminal history for the driver that included a suspended license and arrests for drug possessions, dealing meth and theft of a firearm. LaMar allegedly called for backup and a K9 unit to inspect the car prior to receiving a warrant for a search. The body camera footage saw five minutes of silence following a statement regarding possibly impounding the vehicle to another officer. LaMar reportedly told the man that he would not be handcuffed or transported to the jail, but he stated that the truck would be impounded. The man was requested to wait inside the gas station as the truck would be inventoried and impounded.
Following the suspect leaving his car, LaMar began searching the interior of the vehicle without a warrant under the notion that the vehicle was being inventoried, which led him to collect the black container and a nearby key, and he opened the container to discover 6.7 grams of methamphetamine, authorities report. The discovery led to LaMar ordering officers to arrest the man.
The bench trial for the case began in September with LaMar scheduled to testify. The defense motioned to suppress the testimony, but LaMar was permitted to take the stand where he described the situation beginning with the routine traffic stop for a blue license plate light. During the trial, the judge stated that suspicions arose that LaMar was either colorblind or was being “evasive and dishonest.” LaMar stated during the testimony that he cited the defendant for three traffic infractions and ordered the car to be inventoried and impounded as a means of standard police procedure in Delphi. The judge later ruled that the policy was “unreasonable.”
LaMar testified that he had not suspected the man of being involved in drug activity regardless of his supposed interest in the locked black container residing within the vehicle that was later determined to hold methamphetamine.
According to court documents, LaMar’s claims in an attempt to justify the vehicle search were “utterly rejected” by the Court. Due to the judge’s determination that LaMar lied under oath regarding multiple aspects of the arrest, the judge ruled that the State failed to prove the suspect’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and that the impounding of the vehicle was “unreasonable and improper,” which made the search invalid and the seized substances inadmissible in the court.
The defendant was found not guilty of dealing and possession of methamphetamine, but the man was found guilty of driving without a license and without insurance as well as driving with an improper license plate light. The suspect was released from jail and ordered to pay approximately $2,500 in fines for the traffic violations.
LaMar officially submitted his resignation on Thursday evening. LaMar was appointed as the Chief of Police by former Mayor Anita Werling in July 2023.