Family says NC teen who put officer in headlock was defending his brother
The parents of a 15-year-old with developmental delays are questioning why the Gaston County District Attorney wants to charge the teen in adult court with attempted first degree murder. The case stems from a clash between the teen and a police officer.
La’Dainian Fuller, who was 14 at the time, was riding his bike home with his twin brother Paden Fuller on Oct. 10, 2021 when the two were stopped by police, according to their parents and activists with Emancipate NC, an criminal justice reform organization.
Their father, Marcel Fuller, taught the two boys how to find their way home on their bikes on one specific route that takes about ten minutes to walk. He told reporters at a press conference on Thursday that he did this so the two could avoid traffic, but still independently visit their friends.
The boys were on this route in Gastonia near the baseball stadium, when police told them to stop and that they couldn’t pass a certain point on the sidewalk that was blocked off for a fireworks display.
The two Fullers said they just wanted to get home on the only route they knew and kept going, according to their father. An officer again told them they would be arrested if they kept going, and grabbed Paden by his shirt, according to Kerwin Pittman, a representative for the family and activist with Emancipate NC. Pittman also sits on the North Carolina Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice.
“Out of fear his brother, La’Dainian grabbed his brother,” Pittman said. The officer “pulls him even further and they fall. At this point she calls for backup.”
La’Dainian grabbed the officer and put her in a headlock, Emancipate NC leaders said in a news statement this week.
A “scuffle” ensued, Pittman said. He said “multiple officers” jumped onto the boys.
The boys were kicked, choked, and pepper sprayed, their mother Tangyika Brawley said.
Her sons, she said, had bruises and scratches, and one had a black eye: La’Dainian was pepper sprayed so much they had to throw away his clothes and he frequently gets headaches to this day, Brawley said.
The police officer had minor injuries, according to Emancipate NC. The Gastonia Police Department has not responded to the Observer’s requests for comment.
Juvenile police and court records in North Carolina are not subject to public disclosure under most circumstances. The Observer has been unable to verify the extent of the officer’s possible injuries or the details of the cases against the brothers.
La’Dainian and Paden were both charged after the incident. Paden’s case has been placed on hold after a mental capacity evaluation found him incapable of proceeding, Pittman told reporters.
La’Dainian is charged with attempted first degree murder and assault on a law enforcement officer, his family and their representatives say. The District Attorney’s Office has made a motion to try him in adult court, according to Pittman.
Juvenile may be tried as adult
A hearing will be held on August 31 to determine whether the case is elevated to Superior Court.
Gaston County District Attorney Travis Page said he could not answer questions or comment on the case because it is pending and involves a juvenile.
Page did say: “While pending matters in juvenile court are sealed, matters in Superior Court are generally open to the public. I would strongly encourage any concerned member of the public to attend those court proceedings, and listen to the evidence we present, and not just the public comments from any organization with a clear agenda.”
In 2019, North Carolina passed a law changing the age a teen can be tried as an adult from 16- to 18-years-old. A juvenile’s case may still be transferred to adult court if a judge approves it at the request of the prosecution and if the crime they stand accused of is a class A felony.
Emancipate NC called Page’s move to transfer the case a “vicious abuse of power.” Advocates and the Fuller family are calling for the charges to be dropped, and for the State Bureau of Investigation to investigate the incident.
“Apparently, we have to add ‘riding a bike while Black’ to the list of activities that can subject Black children to state sanctioned violence,” said Emancipate NC executive director and attorney Dawn Blagrove. “While the violence suffered is not physical, the psychological trauma that DA Page is subjecting this child and his family to is unconscionable.”
Blagrove said a white child would not have been treated the same way Paden and La’Dainian were.
The boys’ mother says they are still struggling to recover from the incident. They are nervous anytime they see a police officer and are struggling with post traumatic stress disorder from the incident, she said.
She said she has seen the body-camera footage from the incident and replays it in her mind daily.
“It’s heartbreaking,” she said.
“All they wanted to do was go home,” their father added.
Fuller, who has also seen the body-camera footage, said it’s difficult to watch what happened to his sons.
“To see your kids being thrown around and dragged around by people you did respect … it’s really bad,” he said through tears. “And for me to wake up every day, and to see my kids, it hurts me, it hurts me real bad.”
Dominique Camm, a lawyer with The Freedman Law Group who represents the family in civil matters with this case, said he has seen the body camera footage of the brothers’ interaction with police. Camm said he couldn’t speak on the specifics of the case because it is still pending, but he described some of what he saw in the footage.
“You will see an officer who is bragging and celebrating getting a few good licks in on minors who has special needs,” Camm said. “You will see some of the conversation with some of the officers as they try to find the motivation and the reason to escalate the charges.”
The body camera footage has not yet been released publicly.
This story was originally published August 4, 2023 at 10:38 AM.
