Police negligence let NC woman jump from moving cop car onto I-485, lawyer says
This story was updated Wednesday with comments from Morgan Johnson’s attorney.
The back window of a moving Pineville police car was inadvertently unlocked in July when a female prisoner climbed through the opening and jumped to the pavement of Interstate 485, Police Chief Michael Hudgins said Tuesday.
Morgan Johnson, now 28, leaped from the moving police car in the early morning hours of July 17 while she was being transported to the Mecklenburg County Jail. She suffered a serious head injury that police described at the time as “life-threatening.”
During a Facebook Live broadcast Tuesday, Hudgins said the incident already has led to significant changes in how Pineville officers transport prisoners.
Nonetheless, a lawyer for Johnson and her family told The Charlotte Observer that police negligence and the department’s lack of adequate safety procedures resulted in Johnson suffering “insanely traumatic damages” that likely will lead to a lawsuit.
“How many people fall out of police cars? It was the officer’s duty to protect her. She was in his custody,” Columbia, S.C., attorney Bakari Sellers said in a Wednesday phone interview.
“While I appreciate all the department is doing and all the changes they will make, they were not made soon enough to provide my client with the life she previously had.”
Asked about Johnson’s current condition, Seller said she suffered “a very, very traumatic brain injury,” and is “a shell of what she was.“
Asked about potential legal action against the police, Sellers said it’s possible police and the family can resolve the dispute amicably, “but I highly doubt it.”
During the Facebook broadcast, Hudgins described the incident as “tragic,” and said the police department is praying for Johnson’s “full recovery, and that her family has peace.”
Meanwhile, the department has begun installing bars across the back windows of vehicles to keep a similar event from occurring, the chief said.
Pineville Police also have revised the department’s prisoner transport and camera policies while disabling locking mechanisms on the driver’s side that can unlock windows if accidentally touched, Hudgins said. Officers also underwent CPR training in addition to training they had already received.
After the broadcast, Hudgins did not respond to emailed questions from the Observer seeking the name of the officer involved and how fast the police vehicle was traveling when Johnson jumped.
How the incident happened
Injuries and deaths from people jumping from police cars appear rare. But they do occur.
Less than a week after Johnson’s injuries, an Atlanta-area woman died after police say she kicked open the back door of a police car and leaped from the vehicle. Brianna Grier was handcuffed at the time. The 28-year-old had been arrested after her mother called authorities because Grief was suffering a schizophrenic episode, according to reports.
The Pineville incident unfolded just after midnight on July 17 when police say they answered a disturbance at an apartment complex and saw Johnson strike her boyfriend. Johnson, who police say was intoxicated, was handcuffed behind her back, charged with simple assault, and loaded into a police car for the trip to the county jail, Hudgins said.
About a mile from the Interstate 77 intersection, Johnson freed one of her hands, rolled down the unlocked rear window and climbed through the opening. By the time the officer behind the wheel turned and spotted her, Johnson “was half hanging out of the back passenger window,” Hudgins said.
The officer braked, but the car was still moving when Johnson jumped onto I-485. By the time the officer stopped the car, Johnson was 60 yards away. She was unconscious but breathing when the officer reached her and began giving her medical care.
Asked during the broadcast how Johnson had escaped from what was supposed to be a locked window, Hudgins said it had been “accidentally unlocked,” allowing Johnson “to roll her own window down.”
Hudgins said there is no video of the incident because the camera in the back of the police car wasn’t working.
Sellers said he finds it odd that every other camera in the police vehicle was operating properly except the one that would have revealed his client’s action that night.
Charlotte Observer reporters Mark Price and Mary Ramsey contributed to the reporting of this story.
This story was originally published November 29, 2022 at 8:31 PM.
