I had I had pretty much cut out alcohol, but I but I just was like I need a drink. And I went and bought a bottle of rum last night. Drank the whole bottle. I was trying to get my wife's daughter to go back to bed. Uh-huh. And she was getting up, and I was trying to keep her quiet so she wouldn't wake mama up. I don't really remember much. A police officer driving his own patrol car suddenly gets pulled over, but not by his own department. That's where things get strange. The stop quickly turns serious when the officer realizes he is dealing with another law enforcement officer in a marked government vehicle. How you doing? Good. Hey, man. Got your driver's license with you? Where's your sidearm at? Uh it's over there in the seat. Okay. What's your name? It's Welden. All right. Well, hop on back here and talk to me. I'll explain to you what's going on, okay? All right. I'm Corporal Rhodes. I work for Zebulon. Uh Run my car for me. 604, Welden called to the back of the patrol unit so the officer can explain what is happening. It becomes clear right away that this stop did not happen by chance. Go ahead. Right there. So, Lieutenant, I'm on the phone with him to use 10-0. Lieutenant, I'm having a uniform on the way. Put your hands behind your back. All right. Don't do nothing stupid cuz we ain't Griffin down here, brother. Zebulon 95. Hey, what the hell you got going on? Who's your lieutenant? Uh well, I got Kelton just called me, but I hadn't called him back yet. Okay. I work for Griffin PD for 4 and 1/2 years, man. All right. So, that's why I'm asking you what the hell do you got going on for them to call me. I called my dispatch for me to pull you over. Yeah, I don't know how How long you've been in the game of law enforcement? Uh a year. A year? Yeah. Okay. So, I'm going to let you know you're on a marked car, government vehicle. Lieutenant has stopped. I don't need probable cause, okay? Uh I understand. Okay. Uh what I'm going to do is I'm going to get some bigger cuffs for you so I can take them hinge ones off of you. Give me no problems. I got this. Like I'm explaining to you, this ain't Griffin I'm not giving you no problems. You got a mess, man. Once he is in cuffs, the officer makes it clear that this is not a personal issue between them. He tells him the problem is with Griffin and whatever happened before this stop. I was headed that way. Got blacked out drunk last night. Well, here's the deal. You ain't got nothing with me. And I ain't got nothing to do with you. This is between you and Griffin. Where you live at? Thomaston? I was headed headed home. Did they send you the mandate? Griffin send you the mandate? >> Yeah. Damn it, man. He says he had been sick, had been taking medicine, and also drank alcohol. He admits he does not remember much from the night before, but says something happened at home while he was trying to get his wife's daughter to go back to bed and keep her from waking her mother up. Just move forward. Those are earbuds. I can feel them. I had gone up to to work. I was going I I don't know. I was trying to figure out what to do. Evidently, um I don't remember it, but evidently I like I I I guess I I was trying to get my wife's daughter to go back to bed. Uh-huh. And she was getting up, and I was trying to keep her quiet so she wouldn't wake mama up. And um Come over here. I don't want nobody to see your face. There you go. Just stand right there. I'm listening to you. All right. 604, stand You hold him. I'm listening. And I I guess I I don't really remember much of anything, but uh I guess I was a little too excessive. When the officer asks about drinking, he says he has not really had anything that day other than finishing what was left of a rum and coke earlier in the morning. I've been sick, but I'm all like I've been taking like, you know, all this medicine, and I guess drinking wasn't the Well, man. best thing cuz I guess it mixed with the medicine. I don't know. I cuz I I don't remember much. Where you And you live in Thomaston? Yeah. So, where'd all this happen at? At the house last How much have you had to drink today? I haven't had anything. Well, I mean, just I was sipping, I guess, what was left of the rum and coke this morning, but that was like What time's your shift? Huh? What time's your shift? Oh, I'm off. So, I just threw this shirt on the cuz I was going to go up to work, and I was thinking about talking to somebody, and I went up to work and just sat there. And and then I decided I was going to go home cuz I hadn't I hadn't talked to my wife. So, I don't know what's going on. She went over to my mom's house. And I was going to go home and call Lieutenant Kelton cuz he had called me. And I was going to go and get to the house and sit down and and talk to him. So, that's what I was headed home to talk to him cuz he wasn't at work, but he was calling me. Do you know who this is in the white car? I have no idea. You good? Can I help you? Yeah. Yeah. There you are. That's why I said put your back right there. >> [snorts] >> Don't let me see your face. Is Zebulon PD got a Griffin marked car pulled over, and you're in handcuffs, of course. That's going to make uh I hope they can get good Facebook coverage, I'm assuming. That's why I moved you. Well, whatever happens, just know it's it's it's not the end of your career. Um you made a mistake. Whatever Griffin's got going on, you know, that's between you and Griffin. I don't know why Griffin's As they continue talking, Welden admits more about his condition. He explains that he drank an entire bottle of rum the night before. He says he had previously cut back on drinking, but now it affects him more strongly, leading to blackouts and memory loss. This gives more context to why he cannot clearly explain what happened at home. I guess maybe I have no idea. I really don't. I don't know, brother. If they got one on the way to you, it's probably going to be about 25, 30 minutes. All right. So, I'm assuming you left the PD before you even talked to anybody, then. And then they knew you were there, and then They Yeah, they probably I mean, they you know, they track the vehicles. >> Oh, yeah, I know. They put them on there when I was there. Do this to some people. Well, get [snorts] whatever this is behind you and keep on pushing forward, brother. If this is a career you want. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what I don't know. All right. I don't know what's ahead of you, either, but at the same time, you know, there's a process to everything. So, you got to remember that. Of course, right now, from what it seems like what's going to get you is probably policy. Yeah. But I've never put anybody in handcuffs on the policy before, so I ain't trying to make your gun turn, but I've been doing this a long time. All right. I had I pretty much cut out alcohol, but I I worked Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and had a head cold, and it just made me feel like [ __ ] and um and I just was like I need a drink. And I went and bought a bottle of rum last night. Drank the whole bottle. Well, I can give you the best piece of advice I can give you when you get done is hang that [ __ ] up. Yeah. And like I I Ain't nothing wrong with drinking. You're an adult. You can do whatever you want. But if it starts affecting how you pay your mortgage, Yeah. that's you know, then there's there's your kind of a problem. Ain't nothing against the law saying you can't have your drink, but you got to do it responsibly. I ain't knocking you for it. Hell, I ain't even mad at you. Let's go hit this head on. Best piece of piece of advice I can give you in this line of work is if you get brought in for some [ __ ] just tell the truth. Yeah. I promise you if you done something wrong, and you lied and I was I investigator, and you lied to me, I'm going to do whatever I can to to get you out of there. If you tell the truth, and you're open and honest about it, then great. It's a [ __ ] that's part of your integrity. >> [snorts] >> Just hit it head on. That's the only advice I can give you, man. They'll they'll appreciate the hey, I [ __ ] up more than they would, you know, you trying to Yeah. make it seem like it ain't Griffin's coming to get me. I don't know. Want me to stop you, I mean? I said you may be drunk. At first I thought they wanted me just to see. Yeah. But I mean with you being in that marked car, I'm not going to work it. I would call a trooper. Yeah. Now So, whatever it is is clearly internal, but I mean you want my knowledge, training, experience, since you're in handcuffs for a reason. I don't know if they thought maybe you'd fight free or whatever. They said use caution, but I mean We get told that a lot. It's it's a whole different world down here. It's gotten to where I used to drink heavy and I had stopped. And uh but it's gotten to where like it don't take that much before I don't know if my liver's shot but like I'll I'll black out and I don't remember [ __ ] Uh that might need to go to doctor and get that checked, brother. As they wait, the conversation shifts briefly to health. Weldon says he is 49 and does not have major health issues, while the officer shares that he has had serious heart problems in the past. Cuz you how old? 49. And you have any health problems? Have you had any? No, nothing. Major? Nothing major. Well, I can tell you at age 27 I had a heart attack, three of them. Damn. Yeah. I got They just rolled up, so let me talk to them. When the Griffin units arrive, the focus shifts to confirming what actually happened before the stop. The officer who made the stop explains everything clearly from the beginning, so the other officers know exactly what they are dealing with. All right, this is what we're going to do. Um we're going to transport him in his own car to uh the hospital and hand him over to Detective Dick. Are those your cuffs, homie? Those are mine. And do you smell Mr. Smell any alcohol on him? Not not really. Um of course I ain't really got that close. I just kind of walked up to the window and said, "Hey man, how you doing? You got your license?" And then they dispatched a five put him in handcuffs. So, I said, "Hop on out, walk to the front of my car." Went ahead and cuffed him and then this dude over here showed up to film, so I moved him to this side of my car with his back against >> is this? I've no idea. Someone just filming. First Amendment people, I'm assuming. Well, I mean, you know, you got a marked car stopping a marked car, putting a cop in handcuffs. So, but no, I haven't smelled anything. Um and that's kind of where I was at with it. Like I didn't know if y'all wanted me to try to work a DUI out of it or Did you You got any probable cause for it? How was he driving? He was driving fine in the right lane, but he was in the middle of two cars going like 55. Um Of course I didn't have time to really watch him as far as like his beeping and bobbing. He hasn't been slurring his words at all. >> No slurred speech. Eyes not really look bloodshot. He's not really confused. He knows, you know, his whole timeline from yesterday to today. Um said he was drinking liquor cuz he had a cold and that would be the only thing to kick it, but he thinks his liver's shot because a few drinks and he's blacked out. Um and then I said, "Well, how much have you had to drink today?" And then he's, you know, said, "Oh, I just kind of sipped on what I had left from yesterday." Said he drove up to the office to kind of meet with Kelton and then they ended up they ended up not meeting with anybody and just got in the car and was headed home. He said he was going to sit down and try to think about it. He's got blue jeans on and a and a combat shirt. Um his firearms in the passenger seat. He didn't have it on him when I stopped him. I asked him where it was. He said it's over there. Um I took a knife and his phone off of him. He's got his wallet still in his left back pocket and his air his AirPods and his or, you know, his Bluetooth headsets in his uh front left pocket. Here's his license. He already secured a knife and the driver's phone, while the wallet and other items remain in the driver's pockets. You ready? Ready. Uh phone and knife on the hood of my car. Okay. Come on, brother. All right. Stand right there. This is actually your car. Um You got the key fob? Stop. I got it. Yeah, you got to press the little trunk button on it. Yep. What's your name, Mr. Carey? Nothing. Make sure you don't have a weapon on you. Make sure there's no weapons. Just this axe. That's about it. Yep. What I'm wondering is The court made that decision. Weldon was arrested on December 24th, 2025, but he was later released on bond. Five days later, he was arrested again for stalking after he sent his wife's phone calls to his own number, which broke a no contact order. When deputies and Thomaston police came to arrest him again on January 3rd, 2026, he tried to hide in the attic. Griffin police fired him two days after his first arrest. What do you think about this situation? Do you think this was handled the right way? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.