Mecklenburg DA will not recommend charges for Pineville officer who shot, killed man
Mecklenburg County’s top prosecutor will not recommend charges against a Pineville police officer who shot and killed a man who reportedly threatened others at a bar.
The Charlotte Observer previously reported that Colton Maxwell Floren scared people at dive bar Tavern 51 when he threatened a shooting and claimed to have three guns on him, according to a 911 call.
Officer Kyle McClure shot Floren twice outside the bar, killing him.
“The available evidence in this case leaves the State wholly unlikely to prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Officer McClure did not act in defense of himself or others,” District Attorney Spencer Merriweather concluded in his letter to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
Letter says officer told Floren to stop multiple times
At around 3:38 p.m. on Jan. 11, a customer at the bar called 911 to report that Floren pulled a gun on him. That caller said Floren was drunk, had three guns and threatened to kill him.
Surveillance cameras showed Floren threatening that caller inside the bar before going outside and hiding his gun between a trash can and a pillar, according to Merriweather’s letter.
McClure drove past Floren, stopped and got out of his patrol car, the letter said. Surveillance footage showed Floren, then standing in the business’ parking lot, reaching into his pocket and dropping a baggie “with a crystalized substance inside.”
McClure’s body camera caught more footage. The 911 caller pointed Floren out to the officer, who told Floren several times to “stop” and “show me your hands” and “turn around.” But Floren kept walking toward McClure “without slowing.”
McClure shot him twice. A second Pineville police officer arrived and handcuffed Floren. McClure and others gave first aid to Floren.
“At no time prior to the shooting was Officer McClure informed that the decedent had discarded that firearm,” Merriweather’s letter said.
DA says officer would likely not be convicted
“It is undisputed that Officer McClure fired twice at the decedent,” Merriweather wrote. “The central issue in this review is whether Officer McClure was justified under North Carolina law in using deadly force in the protection of himself or others. A police officer — or any other person — is justified in using deadly force if they, in fact, believed that themselves or another person was in imminent danger of great bodily harm or death from the actions of the person who was shot, and if their belief was reasonable.”
Because McClure believed that Floren had a weapon, and because Floren closed the distance between them, a jury would likely find that he acted in defense of himself and others, the DA concluded.
A jury could similarly conclude it “illogical” for McClure to simply holster his weapon and attempt to subdue Floren, Merriweather said.