Roommate of man accused of slurring poll worker says incident has been ‘over-hyped’

The man accused of racially harassing and threatening a campaign volunteer at a Charlotte voting site remained jailed Friday after a judge refused to reduce his bond.

Jayson Wayne, 28, is charged with ethnic intimidation, disorderly conduct, communicating threats and going armed for the terror of the people. At the time of his arrest, police said he was carrying a BB gun.

He is jailed on $25,000 bond, which Mecklenburg District Judge Paige McThenia refused to reduce on Friday. Appearing by video screen in courtroom, Wayne physically recoiled when he learned he would remain jailed. He raised his arms up by his head, then ran his hands through his shoulder-length hair.

Before before being led off camera, he ask the judge a question: Would she help him “place charges on that man for harassment?”

Wayne was referring to his accuser, Derek Partee. McThenia told Wayne she would not help him have Partee arrested. Wayne’s next court appearance is Dec. 11.

Partee, a retired New York police detective, says he was working outside the Steele Creek polling site on Wednesday afternoon when his confrontation with Wayne took place.

Partee, who is African American, said a man was photographing voters from a car parked outside the site. When Partee approached to get a picture of the car’s license plate, he said he was confronted by two men and a woman.

One of them, believed to be Wayne, racially slurred Partee and showed him a gun he had in a holster on his hip, Partee says.

“He (the man with the camera) said something about being a Republican, I said I am a Republican, he said ‘Motherf***** you ain’t s***,’” Partee told the (Raleigh) News & Observer.

“They didn’t care whether I was a Democrat or a Republican, they just cared that I was black.”

On Friday, Wayne’s initial appearance included an unusual interaction between the judge and Alan McHone.

McHone told McThenia he is Wayne’s roommate and that had been with the defendant outside the voting site. He told the judge that the incident had been “over-hyped” by Partee.

McThenia told McHone she recognized him from the media reports. “Have you been arrested yet?” she asked.

Outside the courthouse, McHone told the Observer he was “a little shocked” by the question.

“If they want to arrest me, they need to do it now,” he said. “The officer said I had not committed any crime, and I know I had not ... I was there to support my wife while she voted. What else can you say? I don’t know why (the judge) would think I was under arrest.”

During the interview, McHone said the confrontation unfolded while he, Wayne and McHone were waiting for McHone’s wife to finish voting. He said Partee approached the car “pretty fast and aggressively” and began taking photographs.

McHone said got out of his car and asked Partee, “Why are you taking pictures of me and my children?”

That gave way to an argument between Partee and Wayne during which McHone says Wayne used the n-word. McHone said he did not slur Partee at any time, only telling him he should call police before the situation escalated.

He said neither he nor Wayne are racists and that “I won’t tolerate racism in my family.”

Asked to describe Wayne, McHone said, “Eccentric.”

“He has a mouth and an attitude, but a heart of gold,” McHone said. “I know a lot of people say that, and mostly everybody says that about somebody in trouble. But really, he’d give you the shirt off his back. I know right now, they paint a picture of him that’s not that, and I don’t know what else to say.”

This story was originally published October 26, 2018 at 5:56 PM.