A Covington man was arrested Thursday for obstructing an officer and giving false information after he was approached by law enforcement and asked to identify himself amidst a routine check.
Covington Police officer Brandon Wilkerson was out patrolling the area of Flat Shoals road when he noticed a man, later identified as Kareem Binder, walking toward Washington Street. According to the report, Wilkerson was in the area due to a large amount of phone calls to the CPD in reference to suspicious subject(s) walking through different people's yards.
After spotting the subject, Wilkerson pulled over and began to question Binder by first asking him for his name. Binder first told the officer that his name was Kareem Brown and his date of birth was February 17, 1973. After checking with dispatch, it was determined that the information given was not on file.
When asked if Binder had a middle name, he replied "Umm... I don't have a middle name". Wilkerson explained to him that the information given to him was false and he was not telling the truth about his name.
Covington Police lieutenant Mike Tinsley arrived on the scene to assist the situation. When Lt. Tinsley asked Binder about the information he had given Wilkerson, the suspect said, "I'm Kareem Brown 2-17-73 and I'm 37 no 39 years old." Binder said that he confused his age because he had a 37 in his e-mail.
During this time, a vehicle pulled up and Binder said, "There they go, that's my ride". Wilkerson had the vehicle pull into the next drive way and began to question the male and female inside the vehicle. The female driver was identified as Felicia Brown and the passenger was identified as Ricky Henderson. Neither of them claimed to know the specific name of the subject except that he went by "D", and they were there to pick him up. Brown said that Binder was her boyfriend.
Lt. Tinsley asked if the suspects name was Kareem Brown. Felicia Brown said that the suspect's first name was Kareem, but his last name was not Brown. Wilkerson walked by over to Binder and asked him where he was coming from which he replied that he was coming from Plum Orchard, thus changing his original story that he was coming form Sterling Lakes. Lt. Tinsley asked Binder to call his girlfriend in Sterling Lakes where they could talk to her. Binder told them that she did not have her cell phone on her.
Binder was asked what his address was since he claimed that he had been living in Sterling Lakes for six months, but he could not provide an address. Binder explained that he had been seeing Felicia Brown who lives on Plum Orchard but that he lives with his other girlfriend in Sterling Lakes. Wilkerson told Binder that he was going to escort him back to Sterling Lakes so Binder could show him where his girlfriend's house was so he could talk with the woman.
While patting him down before putting him in his police car, Wilkerson found a Georgia ID card that had the name Kareem Binder on it. Binder had earlier claimed he had no such identification on him. Binder was put under arrest for giving false information to officer and obstruction of officer.
After running Kareem Binder's name through the system, Wilkerson found that Binder had an outstanding warrant through Newton County for contempt of court for child support obligation. While in route to the Newton County LEC, according to the report, Binder said that he almost got away with the same thing last year and ran from the law when he was walking down the street and could not be found and then turned himself in two weeks later.
Binder later said the he had relatives in the Sheriff's office that could get him out of these charges. According to the report, Binder continued to say that he was receiving a large check next week and he would be able to pay all of these charges off and be through with it.
