Fired Chattanooga police officer arrested for official misconduct

Karl Fields testifies during a hearing in Judge Don Poole's courtroom in Chattanooga.
Karl Fields testifies during a hearing in Judge Don Poole's courtroom in Chattanooga.

A former Chattanooga police detective who was fired in 2015 after he made sexual advances toward a woman while investigating her rape case is now facing criminal charges.

Karl Fields, 43, was booked today and charged with tampering with or fabricating evidence and official misconduct.

Between June and August 2014, a woman said Fields made sexual advances toward her while he investigated her rape and kidnapping case. The Times Free Press does not identify victims of sexual assault.

The woman and Fields and exchanged hundreds of text messages that summer, which were later provided to the Times Free Press.

The Chattanooga Police Department launched an internal investigation after the woman handed them over, and District Attorney General Neal Pinkston also asked the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to look into the accusations.

Seven months later, in April 2015, Fields was fired from the police department for neglecting his duty and acting in an unbecoming manner. He was the third police officer and second detective to be fired that week.

Archives show Fields has a history of unethical behavior in Hamilton County.

In 2006, he crashed his personal car while off duty and told investigators he was carjacked before eventually admitting he was intoxicated. He pleaded guilty to DUI and received a 14-day unpaid suspension from the police department.

Then, during a murder trial in 2012, a defense attorney questioned his police work after audio fields were lost between Fields and the evidence collection officer. Fields claimed he turned them over. The collection officer, however, said he never got them.

The accusations continued in 2013 when a defense attorney for a murder defendant said Fields coached a witness to lie about what she saw. The attorney, Robin Flores, contended Fields showed the witness a photo line-up. But when she failed to identify the defendant as the suspect, Fields showed her another set of photos - all of the defendant.

Another defense attorney claimed a case should be dropped in 2014 because Fields and other investigators failed to test all the weapons found at a crime scene for fingerprints and ballistics.

In October 2014, more information emerged about Fields' relationship with the woman when she filed a civil lawsuit in Hamilton County Circuit Court against the city, police department, and Fletcher and Fields. She has since accused the same man of raping and kidnapping her again.

Stuart James, the woman's attorney at the time, said Chattanooga officials owed her money for being negligent, inflicting emotional distress, and allowing a city employee to commit assault and battery when Fields pushed her inside a Mexican restaurant in Hixson and tried to kiss her. According to the text messages, the man identified as Fields had arranged the meeting to discuss her case.

The other allegations in the lawsuit said Fields sometimes parked his car outside the woman's house, watched her through the window, and sent her messages about what clothes she was wearing.

Contact staff writer Zack Peterson atzpeterson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347 with story ideas or tips. Follow @zackpeterson918.

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