Charlotte City Councilman Braxton Winston subject of criminal summons; ex-wife charged
Charlotte City Councilman Braxton Winston is the subject of a criminal summons, ordering him to appear in court over a complaint for assault on a female.
The summons, which is not an arrest order or warrant, was issued Friday, and was filed by his ex-wife after her own arrest for reported assault.
A day earlier, his ex-wife was arrested, sheriff’s records show, and she was charged with simple assault, accused of punching Winston in the jaw multiple times on Jan. 5. She also is the subject of a restraining order, issued Friday, according to records from the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office.
From an incident that occurred Jan. 5, she accuses Winston of punching and pushing her, which she detailed in a complaint on file with Mecklenburg County courts.
When reached by the Observer late Monday, Winston, 38, referred questions to his attorney, who did not respond to questions Monday or by Tuesday afternoon. Unlike an arrest warrant, a criminal summons does not order law enforcement to arrest the subject of a complaint. Criminal summonses are typically issued when an incident is reported to but not witnessed by police.
Winston, a Democrat and at-large member of City Council, was first elected in 2017 and is serving his second term. In 2019, he won the second-most votes of any at-large candidate, with more than 62,600.
Winston’s ex-wife filed for divorce in 2019. They have three children and got married in 2006.
Winston is a graduate of Davidson College, and he had an accelerated ascent into elected office after participating in protests and marches in Charlotte in response to the fatal police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott in 2016.
This story was originally published January 10, 2022 at 10:45 PM.
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