POLICE NAME DETECTIVE IN DRUG SHOOTING

Fayetteville Police Chief Tom McCarthy has released the name of an
undercover detective, Terrance Phillips, who shot a man last week during a
drug operation.

McCarthy said the community's potential reaction to concealing the
officer's identity outweighs the risks of naming him.

Originally, McCarthy refused to identify Phillips because he said it could
endanger the detective's life. Phillips has been with the narcotics squad
for about a year and works many other cases, the chief said.

''I sensed that the community was becoming uncomfortable with the decision
I made,'' McCarthy said Tuesday. ''The right thing to do at that point was
to change it.''

On Sept. 24, Phillips and other undercover officers were involved in a
narcotics operation that led them to the Eckerd drugstore parking lot at
Raeford Road and Bingham Drive.

Officers arrested Charlie Daniel Patterson and approached Claybrook Asbury
Adams in a van, police said. Adams refused to obey police commands, and the
situation escalated, police said. Phillips thought his life was in danger
and shot Adams, police said.

McCarthy said Adams did not have a gun. He remained in critical condition
Tuesday at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center. Adams, who is 24, lives on the
900 block of Country Club Lane.

Phillips has been put on administrative leave with pay while the State
Bureau of Investigation looks into the shooting. McCarthy declined to
discuss specifics about the case, such as why Phillips thought his life was
in danger, because the SBI is still investigating.

The District Attorney's Office will determine whether charges should be be
filed against Phillips, McCarthy said.

''At this point, with the information I have, I feel pretty strongly that
there is a very good chance that he will be cleared,'' McCarthy said. ''I'm
real confident this young man was in fear of his life and that's why he did
what he did. I have not seen one thing that causes me to feel differently
at this point.''

Exemplary record

McCarthy said Phillips has been with the force for almost three years and
has an exemplary record.

McCarthy said he would have released Phillips' name immediately if he had
any indication that the officer acted improperly.

''We really don't want anybody to think we are covering something,'' he said.

No charges have been filed against Adams. Patterson, who is 33, was charged
with trafficking in cocaine, cocaine possession with intent to sell and
carrying a concealed weapon. Police said they found 3.5 grams of cocaine
and a handgun in his back pocket during his arrest.

Court records show that Adams and Patterson have no prior drug convictions
in North Carolina.

McCarthy said he doesn't know whether Phillips, who is in his 20s, will
continue to work in narcotics if he is cleared of the shooting. He said the
two will make that decision at some point.

''I hope that he chooses to stay because he is one of the good guys,''
McCarthy said.

McCarthy said he knows of no cases in which drug dealers have harmed an
undercover detective after learning of his identity. He said Phillips
worked under an assumed name on the street.

But the chief said drug organizations targeted narcotics officers while he
worked in Florida.

''It isn't something that can't occur, because it does,'' he said.

McCarthy said he understands and respects the need for undercover officers
and their families to feel safe.