Charlotte police comment on new footage of officers arresting couple smoking on bench

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Tuesday released body camera footage — and officer commentary — of a viral, controversial and forceful arrest in Charlotte’s Steele Creek area.

On Nov. 13, officers patrolling South Tryon Street at about 2 p.m. said they smelled marijuana as they drove by a city-owned bus stop outside the Bojangles, CMPD’s Lt. Kevin Pietrus said in a police-narrated video released Tuesday. A couple were charged with possessing marijuana, resisting arrest and other crimes, but the charges were dropped by the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office after a bystander’s video posted to Instagram began spreading widely.

In the weeks following the arrest, CMPD held several news conferences while talking about its internal investigation into the incident and one officer’s use of “compliance strikes.” It also began enlisting a group of community leaders to review certain police policies.

The newly released body camera footage — first shown to Charlotte City Council members Monday night — gives the public new insight to the viral incident.

“This video is not easy to watch,” CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings said in a statement Tuesday morning. “... However, I certainly support the release of this BWC footage.”

‘Smells like you’re smoking weed’

Anthony Lee and Christina Pierre were sitting at a city-owned bus stop near a Bojangles restaurant on South Tryon Street. Police parked nearby and approached Lee and Pierre on foot, video shows.

“’Sup guys,” one officer says as they approach the couple. “Y’all just hanging out?”

Lee tells the officer they just got off of work, and Lee asks what the pair did wrong.

“Well, it smells like you’re smoking weed,” an officer tells them.

Pierre’s attorney, Lauren Newton, later told WFAE the two were smoking a legally purchased THC-A cigarette and that police should not have bothered them. CMPD’s Crime Lab later identified it as marijuana, Pietrus said in the video released Tuesday.

CMPD’s briefing video shows a burned joint collected as evidence. THC-A, sold widely at area smoke stores, converts to Delta 9 THC — the intoxicating ingredient in marijuana — when burned.

Pierre and Lee told the officers they bought the joint from a smoke store.

“Well, it smells like it’s coming from that,” an officer says, pointing to the cigarette. The pair, pointing across the street, again insist they got it from the smoke store.

“Alright, do me a favor then,” the officer says to Lee. “Put your hand behind your back.”

“Woah, woah, woah, what are you doing?” Pierre yells at the officers. “What are you doing?”

CMPD tries to arrest Pierre, Lee

When an officer attempted to detain Lee, Pierre “immediately begins to interfere with that attempt,” Pietrus said in the briefing video.

“Lee is also uncooperative,” he said.

One officer moves Pierre away from the bench in an effort to “deescalate” the situation. She returns, Pietrus says. And in the officer’s second attempt to keep her away, he asks her to put her hands behind her back. She pulled away and the officer’s body-worn camera is dislodged and falls to the ground, Pietrus says.

It records facing the sky.

Lee remains uncooperative while the other officer attempts to “control a resisting Ms. Pierre,” Pietrus says.

“Why are you getting detained?” she yells toward Lee as an officer readies handcuffs.

One officer tells Pierre she is under arrest, but she continues to resist, Pietrus says.

While it is not clearly visible in the video, CMPD’s investigation — and viral video taken by bystanders — revealed the officer struck Pierre in the face “in response to (her) repeated assaults on the officer.” Police included an uncredited video taken from behind the unfolding incident in the briefing that shows an officer throwing two punches — one that connects on or near Pierre’s face and a second that misses.

“Why are you touching me?” she asks multiple times before screaming as the officer flips her onto her stomach and pins her to the ground.

Near the bench behind her, Lee is also pinned.

How CMPD describes Pierre resisting arrest

Pierre’s hands remained pinned under her, Pietrus says. The officer asked her to put her hands behind her back seven times, he said.

“Three of the backup officers assisted in getting Ms. Pierre under control and in handcuffs,” Pietrus says.

One of those officers was Officer Vincent Pistone — the only officer CMPD has named in the incident. After helping officers arrest Lee, he went to assist officers with arresting Pierre. Her hands were still under her body, Pietrus says.

As at least four officers surround Pierre, Pistone delivers seven knee strikes and 10 fist strikes to her right leg. He pauses once to tell bystanders to back up, video shows. He was targeting the peroneal nerve, a concentrated area, Pietrus says.

Under North Carolina law, police officers are “justified in using force upon another person when and to the extent that he reasonably believes is necessary to prevent the escape from custody or effect an arrest of a person who he reasonably believes has committed a criminal offense, unless he knows that the arrest is unauthorized; or to defend himself or a third person from what he reasonably believes to be the use... of physical force while effecting or attempting to effect an arrest... or escape,” Pietrus says toward the end of CMPD’s briefing video.

Gun found in Lee’s bag

After police successfully detained Pierre and Lee, video shows one officer searching Lee’s bag — which Lee earlier reached for, an officer said during the arrest. There was a handgun inside.

Police charged Pierre with assault on a government official, resisting arrest and simple possession of marijuana. They charged Lee with carrying a concealed firearm, resisting arrest and simple possession of marijuana. The District Attorney’s Office later dropped the charges.

“I was disappointed to learn that all charges were dropped against Ms. Pierre and Mr. Lee, specifically the Firearms charges and the Assault on a Government Official charges,” Chief Johnny Jennings wrote in a statement at the time. “However I have a great deal of respect for our District Attorney and know he as a difficult decision to make when it comes ot the prosecution of these cases.”