Folks, I got a text today from my friend. His charges have been dropped. I'm waiting to hear more as soon as he hears more from his lawyer about the details, but the important thing is he is free and clear.
I would like to note that SLED pulled his CWP in late December due to the pending charges and he was restricted from traveling out of state. SLED is supposed to reinstate his CWP now, I do not know how long that will take.
I want to thank you all for your support, advice, words of encouragement, etc. Ya'll are a good bunch. If there is something that we can take away from this mess, it is that you can be hit with charges you would never have anticipated or dreamed of, and that don't make sense one bit just because of an officer's perception. It's not exactly comforting.
Anyway, thanks, and I hope no one winds up in a similar situation such as this. This isn't over but obviously I cannot talk about what may come down the pike right now but I will update this thread again if anything else develops. Be careful out there ya'll!