DA rebukes CMPD in death of Harold Easter, but will not bring charges against cops
While Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers face possible firings for their handling of the death of Harold Easter, they will not face criminal charges, Mecklenburg County District Attorney Spencer Merriweather announced Monday morning.
But Merriweather called Easter’s death “an abject failure” of police procedures. Easter died on Jan. 26, three days after his arrest and detainment in a police station.
Police Chief Johnny Jennings had recommended the firing of Officers Brentley Vinson, Michael Benfield, Michael Joseph and Shon Sheffield, and Sgt. Nicolas Vincent, in connection with Easter’s death.
New internal police review documents, released Friday by CMPD, show the officers involved saw Easter put drugs in his mouth. The records show the officers saw residue on Easter’s tongue and discussed how much of the substance he’d swallowed as he was arrested during a drug investigation just outside uptown Charlotte.
Inside a police substation, Easter had been strip-searched, shackled to the floor and left unattended when he suffered a seizure and cardiac issues, police and medical examiner records show.
In his review of the case, Merriweather said his office lacked the evidence to prove that the officers knew or should have known Easter had ingested cocaine and that their failure “amounted to criminal negligence.”
Merriweather offered a stern rebuke to how his office’s criminal justice partners handled Easter’s arrest and confinement.
In a lengthy letter to the SBI explaining his decision, Merriweather said that it was “wholly appropriate” to deem police actions on Jan. 23 an “abject failure of operating procedure and general standards of custodial care.”
Merriweather also said evidence in the case “suggests that the officers at least should have been aware of the real possibility that Mr. Easter had eaten contraband.” But to prove involuntary manslaughter, which Merriweather said was the most applicable charge, prosecutors would have to show that the officers’ failure to get Easter medical treatment, caused his death.
‘Indelible impression’
Merriweather said his office consulted three independent medical experts about the case.
None “would be able to testify to a degree of medical certainty that Mr. Easter would have lived after having ingested that amount of cocaine even if officers had called for medical attention at the time of the initial traffic stop,” the DA wrote.
While that erected an “insurmountable hurdle” in prosecuting a criminal case against the officers, Merriweather said, “it is important to note just how unmistakably grave the circumstances were surrounding Mr. Easter’s death.”
The district attorney said his most senior prosecutors, who brought “many years of experience in examining disturbing subject matter,” helped review the case.
“... The video image of Mr. Easter slowly beginning to perish, unattended, for over 15 minutes has left an indelible impression upon each of us,” Merriweather said.
Still angry
During a midday press conference in uptown Charlotte, Easter’s family again criticized police actions surrounding their loved one.
“Today’s decision does not bring my brother back,” his sister, Andrell Meckey, said. “I miss him every day but I’m still angry.”
“If he had been treated like a person with respect we wouldn’t be here today,” she said. “If they would have followed their policy ... we wouldn’t be here.”
Reforms sought
In a press conference Friday, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said the case reveals that police reforms are needed.
“Through every part of what we do in this community, every action we take, I’m most proud that we can acknowledge when we need to do change,” Lyles said.
“I’m looking forward to the October release of our draft Community Safety Plan, because that plan not only deals with how do we address violence in this community, but it also addresses how we police this community as well.“
Several of the officers involved in the Easter case have been embroiled in controversy before.
In 2016, Vinson shot and killed Keith Lamont Scott during a confrontation with multiple officers outside Scott’s north Charlotte apartment, a shooting death that set off a wave of violent protests across parts of the city.
Merriweather’s predecessor, Andrew Murray, declined to press charges, saying Scott was armed and did not comply with multiple police orders to put down the weapon. The lawsuit filed by Scott’s family remains in federal court.
Joseph, then with the Huntersville police, was among the officers on hand in September 2017 when a 76-year-old evacuee from Hurricane Irma was fatally shot at a hospital after he pulled a gun. Again, Murray ruled that Joseph and the other Huntersville officer were justified in the killing of James Charles Cook of Florida.
This story was originally published September 21, 2020 at 12:52 PM.
