Pittsboro Town Manager Denies Resisting Arrest

Facing charges for driving with a suspended license and resisting arrest, Pittsboro's town manager claims he was set up when he was arrested Tuesday morning. In a letter to WRAL News, Sam Misenheimer says he was the target of a stalker, one who possibly made calls to police reporting he was driving with a revoked license. "I have had an anonymous stalker over the past two-and-a-half years who continues to cause problems for me," he wrote. Misenheimer, 42, was pulled over by a North Carolina Highway Patrol at about 7:50 a.m. Tuesday after he allegedly ran a stop sign on Thompson Street, authorities said, and was was uncooperative. "He was combative, argumentative," Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Everett Clendenin said. "The trooper placed him under arrest, and the trooper had to use some force to place him under arrest." But in the letter, Misenheimer says it was the state trooper who used unnecessary brutal force and body-slammed him to the ground. "This was not the typical manner in which a high [sic] patrol officer normally handles this type of situation, and I do not understand why this officer chose to act with such rage and force," Misenheimer writes. "I simply asked what was going on and why, which he never did tell me." Pittsboro's Mayor Randy Voller said it was clear to him there was a physical scuffle. "I understand the trooper had some rips on his clothes," Voller said. "And Sam's knee was bruised, his hand was scraped, and he had a scrape on his head." Pittsboro's Town Board will meet on Monday to discuss the situation. Misenheimer, whose license remains suspended pending an April court date, is on administrative leave.