5 Things to Know: CMPD Officer Who Body Slammed West Charlotte Student Under Investigation

CMPD Officer Who Body Slammed West Charlotte High School Student Under Investigation

CMPD is conducting a criminal investigation into how one of its own officers responded to a fight between students at West Charlotte High School this week. Video of the incident, filmed in a parking lot at the school on Friday afternoon, shows one of the responding officers body slam a girl student, appearing to knock her unconscious on the pavement.

In a release on Friday, CMPD says multiple officers, including a school resource officer, were already at the school when the fight began and responded to the scene. “Videos of the incident, which are currently circulating on social media, show an officer physically engaging with a student,” reads the release. “The student was transported to a local hospital where the student was treated and has since been discharged.”

The release goes on to state that, following discussions between Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) and the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office, CMPD’s Criminal Investigations Bureau has launched a criminal investigation into the officer’s response.

CMPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau will conduct a separate but parallel investigation. The officer who slammed the girl has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, according to CMPD.

In a video statement posted to YouTube on Friday, CMS spokesperson Tom Miner stated, “We are aware of the fights that occurred at West Charlotte High School this Friday afternoon and have reviewed the video circulating online. We recognize that this footage is deeply concerning and difficult to watch.

“Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and CMPD are actively investigating,” Miner continued. “While we are unable to share details regarding an ongoing investigation, we want to assure our community that we are taking this situation very seriously. Every student deserves to feel safe and be safe at school. Safety of our students and staff are our top priority.”

CMPD Names First Woman Chief in Department History

Charlotte City Manager Marcus Jones announced Friday that Estella Patterson will take over as CMPD’s next chief, succeeding current Chief Johnny Jennings upon his retirement at the end of the year. Patterson, who was Raleigh’s Chief of Police from August 2021 to March of this year, started her law-enforcement career with CMPD and will be the first woman police chief in Charlotte’s history.

“The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has a long history of incredible leaders who have collectively led CMPD to be one of the finest law enforcement agencies in the country and Chief Patterson will continue that tradition,” Jones said. “Chief Patterson’s deep experience with CMPD in addition to her recent experience leading the Raleigh Police Department made her an ideal candidate to continue CMPD’s successes but also bring new ideas to further the agency’s growth.”

Patterson joined CMPD as a recruit in 1996 as the president of her recruiting class and went on to serve 25 years with the department. She started her career as a patrol officer, spent time at the academy as an instructor, in recruitment, and in Internal Affairs before serving as the deputy chief over Administrative Services and then the deputy chief over Patrol Services.

In Raleigh, Patterson instituted a recruitment and hiring plan that reduced the Raleigh Police Department’s vacancy rate from 150 to 40 in three years. She also launched the Raleigh Police Foundation, which raised $4 million in two years to fund special projects to bolster employee morale, according to a CMPD release on Friday. The department also highlighted Patterson’s leadership in reducing violent crime and 100% clearance rate of homicides in 2024.

“I am deeply humbled and honored to return to Charlotte to serve the community and lead CMPD into its next chapter,” Patterson stated in the release. “Reducing violent crime and disorder, enhancing community engagement, and increasing employee morale and wellness are among my top priorities. I look forward to working collaboratively with law enforcement partners and community stakeholders to make Charlotte one of the safest cities in the nation.”

Federal Ruling Could Resume Partial SNAP Benefits

Federal Judge Indira Talwani of Massachusetts ruled Friday on a motion made by a coalition of 22 attorneys general, including NC Attorney General Jeff Jackson, and three Governors who sued the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Secretary Brooke Rollins for unlawfully suspending the Supplemental Nutrition Program (SNAP). Talwani affirmed that the USDA has the authority to use emergency contingency funds and ruled that the agency must say whether it will partially pay for November benefits by Monday.

In a ruling on a separate but similar suit the same afternoon, Judge Jack McConnell in Rhode Island directed that President Donald Trump’s administration resume the payment of SNAP benefits, which were paused Saturday morning due to the government shutdown, using emergency funds “as soon as possible.”

“There is no doubt, and it is beyond argument, that irreparable harm will begin to occur if it hasn’t already occurred in the terror it has caused some people about the availability of funding for food for their family,” McConnell said in his oral ruling.

In a response on social media on Friday, Trump wrote, “Our Government lawyers do not think we have the legal authority to pay SNAP with certain monies we have available, and now two Courts have issued conflicting opinions on what we can and cannot do … Therefore, I have instructed our lawyers to ask the Court to clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible.”

There is a contingency fund set aside to provide SNAP benefits in an emergency, though USDA lawyers have argued that the shutdown is not an emergency and that the program simply does not exist when the government is shutdown so no funds can be applied.

There is about $5.3 billion remaining in the contingency fund, which even if used cannot cover the monthly cost of about $9 billion for full SNAP benefits. It remains unclear how the funds will be dispersed if they are activated as a result of the ruling.

Read more: Looming SNAP Pause Will Impact 1.4M North Carolinians in Urban and Rural Counties Alike

Details Emerge About What Led to Police Shooting in West Charlotte

More details have emerged about a crime spree that ended in the deaths of three people in west Charlotte last Thursday, Oct. 23.

According to in-depth reporting by the team at WSOC, it appears the two people who were killed and the woman who was kidnapped by 28-year-old Joseph Andrade before he was killed by police that afternoon were all strangers to the suspect, caught up in random acts of violence.

Justin Carlton’s mother told WSOC that her son was on the way home from work when Andrade shot and killed him in an apparent carjacking on Hoskins Road. He crashed that car, then stole and crashed another one before breaking into a woman’s home and kidnapping her in front of her child. It’s believed that he was in that woman’s car with her when police began chasing him.

Andrade crashed the car in front of Pinky’s and ran across the intersection of Freedom Drive and West Morehead Street, shooting indiscriminately. Police returned fire and killed him. It’s unclear exactly when in that series of events he shot the second victim, Shabazz Grant, who died in the hospital over the weekend.

The woman who was kidnapped is said to be physically OK, though she and her child are likely traumatized. In a statement sent to WSOC’s Hunter Saenz, the woman provided the details of her harrowing journey, recalling how Andrade took her captive at gunpoint in front of her husband and 9-year-old son. She credited her escape to her husband, who alerted law enforcement to what was happening, as well as the first responders and God.

City Leaders Break Ground on Anticipated I-277 Pedestrian Bridge

Charlotte Center City Partners joined city officials and leaders with US Bank in celebrating the official kickoff of the Rail Trail Bridge project on Tuesday. The new pedestrian and bicycle bridge will connect Uptown and South End across I-277.

After years of delays, the project will finally soon be underway, eventually linking the CATS Blue Line Brooklyn Village Station to the existing Rail Trail under the East Morehead Street bridge.

“This is how we build a city that works for everyone, where people can move safely and comfortably on foot, by bike, or by transit; where walkable streets and connected pathways bring neighbors closer together; and where mobility isn’t limited to those with cars, but accessible to all,” Mayor Pro Tem Dante Anderson stated in a release.

The $16.4-million project will include a signature bridge with structural arches, cables and aesthetic lighting. Approved in 2019, construction on the bridge was originally slated to begin in 2021.