Rome Police Officer Reprimanded After DUI Arrest of Shorter University Student
ROME, GA — A Rome City Police officer has been formally reprimanded following the arrest of a Shorter University football player who was later proven innocent, according to a report from Coosa Valley News.
The incident occurred in early October when officers were dispatched to Shorter University just after midnight. Nineteen-year-old McClain Edward Fineran, a student-athlete from St. Simons, had struck a parked vehicle and immediately notified campus security, who then contacted Rome Police.
Officer Coleman White conducted a field sobriety test and placed Fineran under arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs. Fineran denied taking any drugs or consuming alcohol and requested a blood test at the scene. Officers did not locate any alcohol, medication, or drug paraphernalia inside his vehicle.
Fineran spent the night in jail before being released. Subsequent testing by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation—including both blood and urinalysis—returned negative for all substances, clearing him of the charge. The case was later nolle prosequi in Municipal Court.
According to reports, the wrongful arrest put Fineran’s academic and athletic standing at risk; he was nearly removed from the football team and faced possible expulsion from the university.
A Rome Police Department spokesperson told CVN that an experienced DUI investigator reviewed the case “in its entirety” and determined that probable cause existed for the arrest based on Officer White’s observations and the field sobriety test conducted at the scene.
Officer White ultimately received formal discipline for substandard report writing, not for the arrest itself. The department said internal procedures have now been updated to prevent incomplete reports from being released.
Rome Police Chief Denise Downer-McKinney issued a statement emphasizing that officers must base arrests on probable cause using the information available at the time.
“In this case, the responding officer had sufficient probable cause to make the initial arrest,” Downer-McKinney said. “A prosecutor’s decision to dismiss charges does not mean the arrest itself was improper; it simply reflects their assessment of the case at a later stage in the judicial process.”
She added that the reprimand stemmed from documentation deficiencies. “Accurate and thorough reporting is essential in every case, and we hold our officers accountable to those standards,” the chief said.
Downer-McKinney said the department remains committed to transparency, professionalism, and maintaining public trust.
