Bartlett Ex-Cop Arrested Again

Tipton County, Tn - A Bartlett police officer, released from jail after allegedly threatening to set his girlfriend on fire was arrested again on Tuesday, on aggravated burglary charges stemming from the same incident, only this time, no bond was set.

Before 44-year old Phillip Devers was re-arrested Tuesday, the officer was allowed to retire from the Bartlett Police Department. But, a look at his personnel file prompts more questions than answers.

Friday, Devers was charged with domestic aggravated assault after allegedly dousing his girlfriend, Lori Knoll, with gasoline and threatening to set her and her Tipton County house on fire.

Tuesday, he was charged with aggravated burglary in connection with the same incident.

In a 911 call made by Knoll, she claimed the officer had been abusive before.

Knoll claims, "He's had a history of domestic violence with me and I let him go when I went and had charges against him, but I had them dropped. I probably should have never done that."

Fox 13 could find no record of any prior domestic violence incidents between Knoll and Devers in Bartlett or Tipton County. There was no mention of it in his personnel file either.

In fact, the last 8 years his employee evaluations with Bartlett police were glowing. He arrived early for work, was respected by fellow officer and was employee of the month in 2007. He was also trained in hostage negotiation and crisis intervention.

Devers was promoted to Master Patrolman last year.

But, employee evaluations show his early years were different.
In 1996 he was criticized for not properly investigating a domestic violence situation, but was never reprimanded.

The next year he allegedly threatened to arrest a woman for not getting out of the way of an accident. And, in 1998 he was given a written reprimand for making inappropriate comments to juveniles he was arresting.

Missing from his file was any mention of why he's been on medical and departmental leave since December.

The written reprimand was not included, nor was any commendations or letters from the citizens Devers interacted with during his last 15 years as a Bartlett police officer.

Fox 13 wanted to know about the Bartlett Police Department’s domestic violence policy and training for officers, but the Bartlett Police Chief did not return our calls.

Meanwhile, Tipton County deputies say Devers will be held in segregation since he was a police officer.

His court date is set for July 14th.