New details about Chattanooga officer under TBI investigation

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee(WDEF) – News 12 has learned new information about the investigation into a Chattanooga cop accused of texting inappropriate messages to a minor.

Last month, Chattanooga police administrators placed Officer Robin Davenport on paid leave after he was accused of sending what one mom calls raunchy text messages to her pre-teen daughter.

In an effort to protect the identity of the young girl, New 12 is not to identify her mom.

"As a parent, I thought this can’t be happening," said the mom.

She was referring to text messages her young daughter received on her cell phone. She said the messages came from Chattanooga Police Officer Robin Davenport.

News 12 obtained the messages. The first was a picture of what is believed to be Officer Davenport shirtless but only showing half his face. News 12 confirmed the picture by matching tattoos to a picture on Davenport’s Facebook page.

"I had to take a deep breath and ask is this really happening? I have known this guy for several years. Is this really happening? So when I started to investigate her phone even more, he was calling my child tidy whitey. He was calling her small butt, small boobs. That was very inappropriate," said the mom.

News 12 was shown several text messages the mom said came from Davenport’s phone.

One of the messages read, "would you want me looking at your picture with your shirt off?"

Another message read, "oh LOL yeah your hands are covering the tighy whities."

A third text read," see if you stay here, you have to cover up. I don’t want to see your green butt and saggy boobs LOL."

The mom told News that on October 6, she went to internal affairs and filed a complaint. Days later TBI took over the investigation. As as result of an open investigation, Davenport was placed on paid leave.

This story took an interesting twist this past Monday evening when the girl’s mother was en route to the News 12 studio to do a scheduled interview. That night she never arrived. The following morning she called News 12 and said she was pulled over on Broad Street and detained by several police officers.

"For me to get pulled over for no reason, I just don’t understand. And I still don’t," she said.

She said the officers never told her why she was being pulled over and why she was detained for three hours. But when officers asked for identification, registration and proof of insurance, she said she complied.

"I didn’t want them to think I was trying to do anything to jeopardize my safety so I was just complying with everything they asked me to do," she said.

She also said that although the Chattanooga police officers didn’t ticket her, she believes they knew exactly who they pulled over. She also believes pulling her over was retaliation for filing a complaint with internal affairs.

"It seems that way because I’ve never been pulled over before. I travel these roads all the time, so I don’t understand why now all of a sudden that I’m being a target. I feel that I am a target," she said.

News 12 contacted TBI headquarters but a TBI spokesperson said they can’t comment because it’s an open investigation.

As for the allegations of officer retaliation, Chattanooga police administrators told News 12 that no comment can be made until the woman News 12 spoke to files another complaint.

She said she plans to do so.