Lawyer says he was set up by cops while traveling to what he thought was business meeting
After an Alabama police officer was charged in federal court with conspiracy, extortion, taking bribes, evidence tampering and civil rights violations, an Atlanta lawyer, who claims that he was a target, has filed a lawsuit against the officer and the police department where he worked.
In 2025, Atlanta attorney Terry Bailey and his driver, Brandon Tatum, picked up a man in Atlanta at the request of a client and drove to Prichard, Alabama, to see a strip club that the client said he wanted to buy, NBC 15 reports. Bailey focuses on alcohol licensing and regulatory work.
The passenger planted methamphetamine and fentanyl in the back seat of Bailey’s rental car, which officers for the Prichard Police Department found after approaching the vehicle and telling the driver that it should have been parked “straighter in the lines,” according to the Sept. 24 civil complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama.
According to the civil complaint, the search was orchestrated by Emanuel Naman Dotch II, the Prichard Police Department officer charged with conspiracy and other crimes.
The incident happened at a parking lot where Bailey was supposed to have the client meeting, which was actually a setup, according to the complaint.
About 30 minutes after telling Bailey and his driver, who is also a plaintiff in the suit, that the car wasn’t parked straight, Prichard Police Department officers searched the vehicle without a warrant and found drugs in the back seat. Bailey and his driver were arrested and charged with trafficking.
The Mobile County, Alabama, district attorney’s office dismissed the charges after reviewing the officers’ body camera footage, according to the complaint. The complaint alleged that Dotch arranged the stop “on behalf of private parties who wanted Mr. Bailey out of their way.” Additionally, Dotch was on the phone with an officer conducting the stop while it was happening, according to the complaint.
Bailey and his driver “were wrongfully detained, searched, arrested, held and prosecuted, and they suffered invasion of privacy, loss of liberty, emotional distress and reputational harm,” the complaint said.
In an affidavit for Dotch’s arrest, an FBI agent stated that Dotch associated with and assisted violent criminals and drug dealers, covered up and concealed evidence for individuals, and conspired with other police officers to conduct unlawful traffic stops.
Additionally, the agent said people paid Dotch to let them go free after being arrested and accepted payments to commit illegal acts as a police officer.
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