A former Arkansas state trooper has been officially decertified almost three years after he was involved in a controversial Lake Village traffic stop. At a decertification hearing Wednesday, Christian Walker Morphis said he arrested a woman for a crime she didn't commit.
In 2023, Morphis said Amanda Prince pulled cocaine out of her pocket while detained in the back of his car. An internal investigation later proved the allegation was impossible. Prince was handcuffed, stationary and wearing tight pants. The investigation also found Morphis lied on official paperwork and did not follow pat-down procedures. Members of the Arkansas State Police Commission on Law Enforcement and Training (CLEST) voted unanimously Wednesday to decertify Morphis.
Prince was ultimately found not guilty, but lost her home and valuables waiting for trial. She said the case caused her emotional stress. She filed a civil rights complaint with the department in 2024.
In his report, Morphis said Prince was moving “erratically” in the backseat of his police car. Video from inside the car shows the opposite. Prince was stationary while sitting in the backseat of his car.
“Other than brief periods of time where she turns her head and looks out the window, she doesn't move at all,” Sergeant Christiana McKibben testified.
During the internal investigation Morphis told different versions of whether he watched the video before the arrest. At some points he said he couldn't remember, while at other points he said he did.
Morphis said he felt “horrible.”
“It’s one of those things that sticks with you,” he said. “If you care about this job it should stick with you.”
He described the arrest as a learning experience he would use to “better his career."
Prince told Little Rock Public Radio that Morphis never apologized to her privately.
“He ruined my life,” she said. “For him to just sit there and say: ‘I'm sorry’” I'm not buying it.”
At his hearing, Morphis speculated the drugs could have belonged to a previous suspect and not Prince. Prince told Little Rock Public Radio the drugs could have been planted. Right before the 17-minute mark of the surveillance video of Prince's arrest, a hand appears to throw a bag of white powder into the front seat of Morphis' car.
Lawyers didn't play the video before the commission, but Morphis’ lawyer agreed with state attorneys who said Prince was not moving erratically in the backseat.
Prince said she wished they had watched the video and made note of the strange event right before the 17-minute mark.
Before the vote, CLEST member James Montgomery explained his decision to decertify Morphis. He said he doesn't think the drugs were planted, but the fact that Prince thinks they were is bad for the state police’s reputation.
“Here we've got a case where that victim and the victims family for the rest of their lives: ‘they planted drugs on me,’” he said. “I have a real problem with that going forward because of the trust that we expect both for and to law enforcement."
Morphis did not respond to reporters' questions about whether he would appeal the decision. Prince is suing the department for violating her civil rights.
