5 Things To Know: Who Is the N.C. Pastor Who Peed on a Woman?
...and four more stories from Oct. 11-17, 2020
Law Enforcement Mum on Identity of N.C. Pastor Who Peed on Woman
A purportedly “well-known N.C. pastor” who allegedly peed on a woman during a flight from Las Vegas to Detroit this week has done a hell of a job covering his tracks, as local and federal law enforcement agencies have refused to release any information about him. The pastor who peed on the woman was taken into custody after Alicia Beverly said she awoke to him relieving himself on her during a flight on Monday night, then had to sit in her wet clothes for hours while the flight finished, according to a Fox 2 Detroit report.
Beverly told Fox 2 that she awoke to the feeling of something wet and immediately saw the man’s genitalia and puddles of urine on the seats around her. She screamed, at which time an off-duty police officer apprehended the man, who reportedly remained silent throughout the incident. Multiple reports state the suspect has blamed sleep aids for the incident.
A spokesperson at Detroit Metro Airport, where the flight landed and the man was taken into custody, told Queen City Nerve that “the incident was referred to the FBI” and the airport could not provide any further details into that investigation. The FBI has stated that it won’t release any information about the suspect until he stands before a judge and is formally charged, though when that will happen is unclear.
According to the Fox 2 report, “the pastor’s camp has declined to comment on the story.” Reporter Jessica Dupnack said on Twitter that the channel’s policy is not to identify suspects unless there are formal charges.
Queen City Nerve has filed a FOIA request with the Wayne County Airport Authority to get access to the police report.
County Sees Rising Trends in COVID-19 Data
Positive COVID-19 case numbers appear to be on the rise again in Mecklenburg County, as state numbers released on Friday showed daily cases in Mecklenburg County going above the 200 mark for the first time in more than a month and Mecklenburg County Public Health data showed an increase in test-positivity rates.
According to the most recent MCPH data released Friday morning, there have been 31,023 positive cases of COVID-19 reported among Mecklenburg County residents and 374 deaths resulting from the coronavirus. That’s an increase of 1,113 cases and eight deaths since the same time last week. In-depth data for cases that occurred through Wednesday showed, on average, around 86 people were hospitalized due to COVID-19 at any given day during the past week, a stable trend compared to the previous 14 days. The test-positivity rate over the past week has been at 5.1%, a slight increase compared to the previous two weeks.
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Safe Outcomes Program Begins in Charlotte
CMPD this week launched its new Safe Outcomes Program, which was announced during a press conference on Oct. 7. The program aims to help responding officers de-escalate situations by providing them with more context for the scene they are about to arrive at through a voluntary registry for folks with physical and mental health conditions.
Individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, blindness, autism, deafness, Down’s Syndrome, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and other medical or developmental disabilities are encouraged to participate in the program by registering at the city-run website.
Residents are asked to enter specific information into the Safe Outcomes system including address, physical description, diagnosis or disability, and any special considerations including method of communication, commonly worn items, approach suggestions, primary contact information, vehicle information and more.
That information is added to CMPD’s dispatch system and will be flagged under specific addresses provided by residents. When 9-1-1 dispatchers receive a call-for-service and the address is associated with an address registered in Safe Outcomes, the responding officer can read the summary information provided by the resident and respond accordingly.
“This program helps the CMPD obtain critical information prior to an emergency that assists in our response to calls for service involving individuals who may have health concerns,” Chief Johnny Jennings said in a statement Friday. “Preparing officers with the caller’s health-related issues in advance of that interaction will improve our response and make everyone involved safer.”
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Museum Closer to Saving Siloam School
The Charlotte Museum of History’s (CMOH) Save Siloam School Project got a big boost on Tuesday by way of a $100,000 gift from the Lowe’s Foundation. The foundation will contribute a $50,000 grant to the museum in support of educational programming at the renovated Siloam School, together with $50,000 in renovation materials.
The Save Siloam School Project aims to restore and preserve the historic Siloam School, a Jim Crow-era schoolhouse for African-American children in northeast Charlotte. When restored, the Siloam School will be the only preserved Rosenwald school in Mecklenburg County devoted to K-12 history education and history programming.
The contribution from the Lowe’s Foundation, together with recent gifts from Walmart and individual donors, brings the total raised for the Save Siloam School Project to $355,000, well over a quarter of the way to the project’s $1 million goal. That allows the museum to begin the RFQ process for moving and renovating the school. The city of Charlotte gave the project $50,000 in early 2019 and Mecklenburg County provided $125,000 later that year.
“The $1 million fundraising goal for the project includes restoring, relocating and preserving the school, as well as developing a history exhibit about the Siloam School and Rosenwald schools generally,” said Adria Focht, president and CEO of CMoH. “This will provide our community with a tangible experience of this history. It’s a story that we need to understand so that together we can build a more just and equitable community.”
Yearly Homicide Total Reaches 94
There were four murders in Charlotte this week, three of which occurred within a span of 11 hours, bringing the total number of homicides in the city this year to 94. Shortly after 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday, police responded to a shooting call near the intersection of West W.T. Harris Boulevard and Old Statesville Road and found 21-year-old Aaron Shuford Jr. dead of a gunshot wound. No arrests have yet been made in the case.
In a separate incident about 30 minutes later, police responded to a call on Campus Street in the Washington Heights neighborhood of west Charlotte and found 58-year-old Ernest Lightner dead of a gunshot wound. CMPD has not announced any arrests in the case, though WSOC reported that 29-year-old Gina Kilgo has been arrested and charged with Lightner’s murder.
Just before 4 a.m. on Tuesday, officers responded to a shooting call on Clydesdale Terrace in the Enderly Park neighborhood of west Charlotte and found Emanuel Taylor lying in the road, dead of a gunshot wound. Taylor had turned 41 last week. No arrests have been made in the case.
Just after 4 a.m. on Friday, police responded to a shooting call near the intersection of North College Street and East 12th Street. Upon arrival, they found a man dead of a gunshot wound. Queen City Nerve will not release the victim’s name at this time, as his family has not yet been notified, but will say that he was a homeless resident of Charlotte who often helped Deborah Woolard of Block Love Charlotte move people though the lines at the organization’s nightly dinners. Later on Friday, police arrested 19-year-old Xavier Hough and charged him in the murder.
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