Videos released that detail how fired NC trooper handled 2 previous traffic stops

Newly released videos show a North Carolina state trooper who was fired in June aggressively handling drivers during two separate traffic stops.

Video footage from dash cameras show Michael Blake during traffic stops on Aug. 31, 2016, and on March 28 of this year.

Media organizations, including The News & Observer, filed a petition to make the videos public after Blake was charged with assault and fired following the April 3 beating of a Raleigh man.

Wake County Superior Court Judge A. Graham Shirley issued an order Thursday to release the footage.

Blake was not disciplined or charged in either incident, but he was suspended from the Highway Patrol in 2015 for excessive force and misconduct, according to a complaint filed by Kimberly Ingram.

Blake and another Highway Patrol trooper stopped Ingram in northwest Raleigh six days before the beating of Kyron Hinton in April. Video footage shows Blake pulling Ingram out of her car and accusing her of failing to stop when he activated his lights and siren.

“Put your hands up!” Blake says when Ingram pulls into a parking lot. “Get out! Take your seat belt off!”

Blake pulls Ingram to the ground and says, “I am trying to be nice to you. Stop resisting.”

Blake and the other trooper help Ingram to her feet, and Ingram tells them, “I didn’t realize that you were behind me.”

“Are you serious?” Blake responds.

“I am very serious,” she says.

Ingram, 44, filed a complaint in May with the N.C. Industrial Commission, claiming that Blake had assaulted her.

Ingram was initially cited for failing to stop her vehicle for a law enforcement officer, but the citation was dropped, the complaint says.

Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said Thursday that she has asked the State Bureau of Investigation to look into Blake’s traffic stop of Ingram.

“We are currently reviewing the matter involving Ms. Ingram to determine whether criminal charges are appropriate,” Freeman said. “The SBI is investigating at my request.”

Blake and other law enforcement officers also had a physical confrontation with Raphael Maurice Rogers, who had been the target of a heroin-trafficking investigation in Wilmington, on the evening of Aug. 31, 2016, near Cary.

As part of the probe, Blake pulled Rogers over for speeding on U.S. 1, and another state trooper and a Cary police officer were called to help.

During a struggle, officers twice used a stun gun on Rogers, and they used their fists, knees and batons to strike him, according to court records filed in Wake County. Rogers spent six days in the hospital after the incident.

Video footage released Thursday shows Rogers talking with the trooper in the front seat of a cruiser. Rogers says law enforcement can search his car but that he won’t sign a release form.

As troopers search the car, Rogers can be seen getting out of the patrol vehicle. At that point, a trooper warns him that a stun-gun would be used against him. Officers and Rogers cannot be seen on camera, but an audio recording captures the struggle.

Cary police are expected to release video footage from the incident by Friday afternoon.

A judge ultimately dismissed the drug charges against Rogers, saying the search that led officers to find nearly 2 ounces of heroin that evening was unlawful.

Freeman said Thursday that she had not yet seen the video footage from the traffic stop of Rogers. She said she has requested the release of information, including videos, of any “use of force incidents that have been investigated by the N.C. Highway Patrol.”

“We have not yet gained access to that information,” Freeman said. “We’re awaiting a ruling as to what is appropriate for the state to have. ... I don’t have any reason to believe at this point that there will be any further cases but I don’t know because we’re waiting for that ruling.”

Blake and fellow trooper Tabithia Davis were charged and fired after Hinton was beaten the night of April 3 in East Raleigh. Their supervisor was disciplined.

A Wake County sheriff’s deputy, Cameron Broadwell, also faces criminal charges in the Hinton case.

This story was originally published August 2, 2018 at 1:20 PM with the headline "Videos released that detail how fired NC trooper handled 2 previous traffic stops."