Citizens Review Board rules against CMPD in case over wrongful handcuffing of teacher
The Citizens Review Board, in an 8-2 vote Thursday, found that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police erred in not disciplining its officers after they wrongly handcuffed a teacher at gunpoint last summer.
It’s just the third time the board has ruled against CMPD.
Jasmine Horne, a teacher with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, was detained on June 14 when police mistook her for a suspect with the same last name and a similarly spelled first name. Officers tracked down her car, confronted her at gunpoint in front of her home, and put her in handcuffs for around 15 minutes.
The board, which held an initial hearing in April, will submit its disciplinary recommendations to CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings and City Manager Marcus Jones likely within “a couple of weeks,” board attorney Cary Davis said.
Jennings will then have seven days to accept or reject the board’s recommendations, Davis said. Jones will then have seven days to act whatever the chief decides, and his decision will be final.
Jennings initially decided to not punish his officers.
“The actions of the officers who detained Jasmine Horne were found to be within policy of the CMPD as the officers were acting in good faith with the information that they were provided,” the department said on social media on April 8.
CMPD declined comment on the ruling in an email to The Charlotte Observer late Thursday.
Horne did not speak to reporters after Thursday’s hearing, but her attorney, Darlene Harris, called the board’s ruling a “first step in the right direction.”
Harris said she is confident the board will make “good” disciplinary suggestions.
“Whether or not they’re implemented, I’m not so sure about that,” she said.
The Citizens Review Board has rarely ruled in favor of individuals who bring complaints against police and often hears cases related to officers’ use of force, such as shootings.
Since 2013, just seven of 21 appeals — not including Horne’s — have reached the second phase.
A case of mistaken identity
In Horne’s case, CMPD body-camera footage shows the second-grade teacher was sitting in her car outside of her west Charlotte home when police approached her, guns drawn.
They order Horne to put her hands up and step out of her vehicle. She’s then placed in handcuffs.
“I live here, what’s wrong?” Horne asks the officers.
Police were looking for a suspect in a stabbing that happened the previous day. The victim gave police the name of the woman he said had stabbed him— but the wrong name was used in the initial investigation.
Officers put Horne’s name into the license plate reader system. Police later would say the person they were looking for had the same last name but a different first name: Jaselyn. That person was later charged with attempted first-degree murder.
While Horne was in handcuffs, officers spoke with her mother and grandmother, who confirmed that they did not know a Jaselyn Horne.
Jasmine Horne’s mother then questioned why police had her daughter in handcuffs.
“Why would you handcuff my daughter and that’s her car, that’s her vehicle?” Horne’s mother asks.
“Right and we’ve got that as a suspect vehicle,” the officer responds.
Video of the incident, which the city released in January, does not show police explaining the mix-up to Jasmine Horne.
Review board history
The review board’s lack of authority — such as subpoena power to compel officers and witnesses to give statements — has been a point of contention for years locally.
In 2017, when a short-handed board deadlocked over its decision in the shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott by police, one board member criticized the policy of holding two hearings, saying it favored of accused police officers.
Before Thursday, only two other cases ended in rulings against CMPD:
▪ In September 2017, the board ruled on a complaint against CMPD involving an allegation of excessive force after one officer put a gun to the head of an unarmed James Yarborough and threatened to kill him in March 2016. That happened moments after several officers had chased and tackled Yarborough to the ground and instructed him to put his hands behind his back – something his attorney says he was physically unable to do because he was pinned down.
▪ In February 2020, the board split with then-Chief Kerr Putney’s decision not to discipline Officer Wende Kerl following the fatal police shooting of Danquirs Franklin in March 2019.
This story was originally published May 12, 2022 at 5:00 PM.
