‘Smash this out.’ CMPD officers disciplined after escalated traffic stop.
A captain in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau says three officers who surrounded a man’s car last December after a traffic stop failed to de-escalate the situation. The officers broke two windows of the car and arrested the driver, who suffered a fractured elbow.
One of the officers was suspended without pay for two weeks, CMPD officials said Thursday. A second officer and a supervisor were also disciplined in the case.
The department announced the results of the internal affairs investigation as CMPD released police video footage showing officers stopping 37-year-old Anthony Caldwell on Billy Graham Parkway Dec. 5. Authorities say Caldwell’s car had a “fictitious” license plate. And officers have accused him of failing to stop, although the video shows there was no police chase as officers followed Caldwell into a parking lot of a nearby hotel, about one minute after turning on police lights and sirens.
The stop took place around 8 p.m., according to CMPD.
The newly released video footage shows three officers approaching the car with their guns drawn. Immediately, officers begin yelling at the driver and passengers to open the car’s doors.
The driver, later identified as Caldwell, asks officers repeatedly why he is being pulled over and says he has a right to keep his door closed.
Several times, the officers are seen trying to open doors on the car, but all are locked.
After one minute of shouting, threatening to arrest people inside the car and pointing guns at Caldwell and his passengers, one of the officers begins smashing the car’s windows with a police baton. In the police footage, officers are seen dragging Caldwell from the driver’s seat and arresting him. He asked to speak to a supervisor but the supervisor on scene refused and was later written up, according to CMPD.
“That situation was blown all the way out of proportion. That situation was escalated all the way to a life or death situation,” Caldwell said in a recent interview with Observer news partner WBTV.
In a press conference on Thursday, CMPD Internal Affairs Commander Jackie Hulsey said while the officers had not used excessive force, one officer was found in violation of the department’s Conduct Unbecoming policy.
“From the get-go, it was the (officer’s) language and the behavior ... rather than trying to de-escalate and take a calm, measured approach, it was very heightened and intense and clearly that doesn’t bring things down,” Hulsey said.
If officers had used different language and still had to break the windows, that would have been “more professionally handled,” she said.
CMPD said on Thursday that one officer, who violated the department’s Conduct Unbecoming policy, received an 80-hour unpaid suspension, is ineligible for promotion for two years and was reassigned from his specialty unit. Another officer received a 24-hour unpaid suspension for failing to report to a supervisor that he had closed a police car door on Caldwell’s foot. The sergeant on scene received a written reprimand for not speaking with Caldwell when he had specifically requested it.
CMPD officials refused to identify the names of the officers who were disciplined for the incident. Video of the incident shows several officers on scene and at least four CMPD vehicles — including one unmarked car.
Less than one year ago, CMPD changed its policy on de-escalation requirements for officers. The policy emphasizes that officers must attempt to diffuse tense or potentially violent situations before using force.
That policy defines “passive resistance” as non-violent acts that occur when a person does not obey an officer’s orders but “does not pose a continuing threat to the safety of officers.” Under CMPD policy, officers are also not allowed to draw and point a gun at someone unless the officer “reasonably believes that deadly force may become necessary.”
“An officer need not wait until the threat becomes imminent before pointing his or her firearm at a person. However, an officer must be able to articulate why he or she believes that deadly force may become necessary,” the policy states.
On Thursday, Hulsey said officers can draw their weapons when approaching a vehicle during a traffic stop “if they perceive potential threat or harm.” In this case, she said, the circumstances were that the traffic stop took place at night and the vehicle, which had dark tinted windows, did not stop immediately and had to be followed.
“It’s not uncustomary for officers to approach and utilize their weapons,” she said.
The Observer was not able to reach Caldwell.
This is the second instance under CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings that officers have been disciplined for their behavior. In September, police announced that four officers and a sergeant have been recommended for termination for failing to follow policy concerning the in-custody death of Harold Easter.
‘Hands up! Unlock the door.’
Two dozen videos released by CMPD on Thursday show a detailed look at the traffic stop, where Caldwell says he was subjected to excessive force when officers busted his windows, pointed guns at him and arrested him.
In a press release Thursday, CMPD said that when the officers attempted a traffic stop by turning on their blue lights and sirens, the driver refused to stop. One video shows that around a minute elapsed between when the officers initially turned on their lights and when they pulled into the parking lot of the Extended Stay Hotel on Yorkmont Road. During this time, CMPD made three turns to follow the car.
CMPD’s Hulsey confirmed the officers were not in pursuit of the car.
Video shows three officers approach the white car with their guns drawn.
“Hands up! Unlock the door,” an officer screams. One officer comments that there are three people in the car.
An officer tries to open the passenger door and the officers continue to shout at the people in the car to unlock the doors. One officer standing near the driver’s seat says he’s going to break the door.
“Open the door now!” the officer says.
“I have the right to keep my door closed,” the driver is heard yelling back through a cracked window.
“We’re going to break your windows and you’re going to jail,” the officer says.
An officer starts using his baton to hit the driver-side window. Video still shows officers pointing their guns at the car. It’s been around a minute since the officers first arrived on scene and for the next minute there is more yelling between the driver and the passengers.
“Smash this out,” an officer on the passenger’s side says. An officer walks up to the car and starts cracking the window with the baton.
One video shows an officer getting out of his car in the hotel parking lot, walking past three other CMPD cars and approaching the vehicle where officers are already breaking the glass. There are eight officers surrounding the car. Four are pointing their guns at the car.
At one point the officers shout at the driver to show his hands, and a pair of hands stick out of the broken window.
“You’re breaking my windows,” he shouts.
“No s— open the f— door! Let’s go!” the officer shouts back. The hands go back into the car, the officer tries to open the door again and then continues smashing the window. Then the door pops open and two officers immediately drag the driver out. The officers have been on scene for three minutes.
“I haven’t even done anything! What have I done?” he shouts to the officers as they wrestle him to the ground.
Two people watching on the sidewalk record the police officers. Another person is recording from a balcony on the second floor.
“What crime have I committed? They still haven’t said. They still haven’t told me why I’m under arrest,” the driver shouts.
Police said Caldwell was charged with failure to heed blue lights and siren; resisting, delaying or obstructing a law enforcement officer; driving with a revoked license; operating a vehicle without liability insurance; and displaying a fictitious registration number plate — all misdemeanor traffic infractions.
‘You had your gun pointed at my face’
One video shows officers talking to the passengers in the parking lot after Caldwell was arrested. An officer tells a man in handcuffs that he should have unlocked and opened the door after he had his hands up.
“You had your gun pointed at my face,” the passenger says. “As far as I am concerned, I almost died tonight.”
“That would mean, do what I say ... you should be going to jail with (Caldwell) because you didn’t listen,” the officer responds.
The other passenger in the car says to the officer that they drove to the hotel instead of pulling over right away because she lives there and they wanted to get home “for our safety.”
Footage also shows police opening the hood and trunk of the car. Another video shows Caldwell being taken to an interview room at the police station, where he is searched and then shackled to the floor.
Police said on Thursday that after his release from the jail, Caldwell went to a hospital, where he learned he had a fractured elbow. That same month he filed a complaint against the arresting officer.
One video shows Caldwell being walked from the CMPD vehicle to be processed at the Mecklenburg County Detention Center. Before they enter the building, Caldwell waits in handcuffs with three officers present in an intermediary room between the parking lot and the jail. The room is small with beige cinder block walls and windows on both sides.
Caldwell says to the officers that they still have not told him why he was arrested.
“I’m going to stick a fork right up in your a-- and I’m going to bake you,” he says to the officer who is recording with his body-worn camera.
An officer in the room whistles. Another one smiles.
“I told you,” the officer says back to Caldwell. ”I’m shaking in my boots.”
This story was originally published September 25, 2020 at 2:14 PM.
