CMPD chief violated 1st Amendment in suspending critical officer, lawsuit alleges
A Charlotte police officer says Chief Johnny Jennings and department officials violated his First Amendment rights when they suspended him and one sued him after he criticized their refusal to talk to reporters.
Daniel Redford, a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officer of nearly 20 years and the president of the local Fraternal Order of Police, is asking a federal judge to order CMPD stop “engaging in further violation of his rights,” according to the lawsuit filed Saturday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.
The lawsuit revolves around the way Jennings and his spokesperson, Public Affairs Director Sandra Vastola, responded to media inquires about the deadly shootout that killed four officers in Charlotte on April 29, 2024.
They refused to answer questions about officers who “logged off their computers and defected to avoid assisting with this shooting,” according to Redford’s lawsuit.
Redford, on the FOP’s Facebook page, at the time criticized CMPD and Vastola’s “dismissive response” to a WCNC reporter’s requests for information. Instead, Vastola told the reporter his story was “irresponsible” and a “slam job.”
On the FOP’s Facebook, Redford posted that “CMPD’s IA is fully capable of quickly getting these answers” and criticized what he said was Jennings’ and Vastola’s lack of transparency.
Redford, acting not in his position as a CMPD officer but rather in his FOP leadership position, did his own interviews with multiple media outlets, including The Charlotte Observer. Redford says in the lawsuit that the information he shared with media was obtained through his FOP position, not as an officer.
Then he was suspended for 40 hours by the police department’s internal affairs for “violating CMPD’s Social Media Policy, Media Relations Policy, and Unbecoming Conduct,” according to Redford’s lawsuit. They said he didn’t have permission to talk to reporters.
Redford is asking for compensatory damages, back pay and damages for emotional distress. The Observer reached out for comment from City Manager Marcus Jones, but Media Relations Manager Jack VanderToll said “the city doesn’t comment on active litigation.”
Redford could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Vastola sued Redford and the FOP for defamation in October 2024. Vastola’s attorney, James E. Hairston Jr., argued at an April hearing that although Vastola is the public face of CMPD, she is a private citizen and Redford and the FOP’s “malicious” comments harmed her reputation.
Superior Court Judge Matt Osman dismissed Vastola’s lawsuit, saying during the hearing: “This isn’t England where we criminalize mean thoughts.” Vastola filed an appeal with the N.C. Court of Appeals.
Vastola could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Redford faced another suspension when the FOP on Facebook “spoke out against a matter of public concern: the CMPD Chief’s opposition to equipping officers with outer carrier vests — something officers were begging for,” the lawsuit said.
This story was originally published October 2, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
