Charlotte Man Retains Lawyer After Viral, Violent Cabarrus County Arrest
A man whose arrest by the Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office and Concord Police Department went viral has retained legal representation after many who viewed video of the incident said police violently overreacted.
The video depicts the Aug. 27 arrest of Davion Pringle at a Cabarrus County gas station, during which officers shattered Pringle’s driver’s side window and placed him in handcuffs. His passenger, Imani Grier, was also placed in cuffs. Pringle maintains his only offense was improperly displaying a license plate. Grier and Pringle both reside in Charlotte.
Grier and Malissa Baxter, Pringle’s mother, have also retained legal representation by Charlotte-based Oakhurst Legal Group. Baxter arrived on the scene after the video was shot, and was “severely damaged by the events that took place as she attempted to secure the release of her son from a violent and unlawful search and seizure,” according to a press release from Darlene Harris, managing attorney with Oakhurst, on Tuesday.
“We are fortunate that this incident did not have a deadly outcome as we have seen in similar captured interactions,” the release reads. “This is likely due to Mr. Pringles’ safety precautions. If officers behaved this aggressively in a well-lit area with witnesses, how would they have reacted in an isolated and dimly lit area? We must hold the officers involved accountable for their actions.”
The release states officers initiated a traffic stop on Pringle and Grier at around 10:45 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 27.
“Given the location, a dark country road, Mr. Pringle slowed down and pulled into a gas station to ensure a safe interaction in a well-lit area,” the release reads. It is then that the video begins, showing officers approaching Pringle’s vehicle with guns drawn, then shattering his window before opening the door and pulling him from the car.
Pringle can be seen holding a phone to his ear during the arrest. He complies with all of the officers’s orders. They do not appear to tell Pringle to exit his vehicle himself, but instead only to show his hands, which he appears to do all the way through his arrest.
“He never posed a danger to officers, nor did he have any outstanding warrants for his arrest,” Tuesday’s release reads. “Additionally, the Officers here had no reason to believe he was armed or dangerous.”
Requests for comment from Concord Police Department and the Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office were unanswered at the time this story was published, but Queen City Nerve will update the story if we receive comment.
According to an article published on the Daily Dot on Sept. 6, video of the arrest had garnered nearly 1 million views on TikTok at that point.
Two days after the incident, an Instagram user named @datboydp_ posted the video, stating he is Davion Pringle. He wrote his version of events, much of which aligned with Tuesday’s press release. In the post, Pringle stated officers pulled him over because they could not see his tag, which he said was a paper tag displayed in his back windshield.
Pringle wrote that he was attempting to tell officers his window would not roll down when they shattered it.
“Share this experience amongst your family and friends in thought of helping others know what to do and not to do when it comes to these actions,” Pringle wrote. “Help us make sure both the city and the county are held accountable for these [sic] misuse of authority and power…”
It is unclear at this time what legal action, if any, the involved parties plan to take.
Tuesday’s release reads, “Mr. Pringle, Ms. Grier, and Ms. Baxter — victims of police — are trying their best to cope with the incident and continue to process the aftermath of this incident.”
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