Attorney tries to stop subpoena by East Ridge police officer

A Chattanooga attorney on Thursday filed a motion to quash a subpoena obtained by East Ridge police for her Google account information, including records for call information and text messages. A complaint against the officer who obtained the subpoena also was filed.

The subpoena, obtained Sept. 13 by officer Robert Wade, requests several records relating to a specific Google Voice phone number that belongs to attorney Brandy Spurgin-Floyd.

Some of the information requested includes subscriber name, address, Social Security number, contact numbers, call detail records — including date, time and length of calls — and records of text message communication between Aug. 23 and 24.

The subpoena states the information was requested as part of a criminal investigation into an aggravated robbery that took place in East Ridge. It’s not clear when the alleged crime took place.

In the motion to quash, attorney Melody Shekari, on behalf of Spurgin-Floyd, called the subpoena “manifestly absurd.”

“The information demanded is protected by attorney-client confidentiality, attorney-client privilege and would violate those protections for many clients,” the motion states.

Shekari argues that if the officer had simply searched Google for the phone number in question, “and he should have in due diligence,” he would have known that it belonged to an attorney, as it’s the number Spurgin-Floyd uses for business.

“The officer either did not exercise due diligence and was grossly negligent or did ‘Google’ the phone number and knew it belonged to an attorney,” Shekari states. “If the latter is true, the officer maliciously requested the issuance of a subpoena to avoid attorney-client privileges and confidentiality.”

Acting East Ridge police Chief Stan Allen declined to comment on the subpoena but said no internal investigation has been opened against officer Wade.

“We looked into the complaint, and there’s no basis for the complaint,” he said. “We’re not investigating him. He’s a detective. He’s doing an investigation.”