‘When is enough enough?’ CMPD officer’s use of force in drug arrest draws scrutiny
At least 17.
That’s how many times the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department says Officer Vincent Pistone hit Christina Pierre, who had just finished her shift at work. Seven knee strikes and 10 closed-fist strikes.
A video that circulated online this week showed part of the Monday arrest. Pierre was on the ground with several officers around her. But Pistone kept punching.
Police say Pierre had punched an officer in the face before the camera rolled, that she was told to stop resisting and that Pistone was intentional about where he hit her. He landed “compliance strikes,” targeting a nerve in her thigh, the department has said.
And an unnamed officer “returned a strike to Ms. Pierre’s face” before the tussle, CMPD said late Thursday afternoon.
Community leaders want to know when enough is enough.
Seventeen is more than enough, several told The Charlotte Observer.
How CMPD describes it
Pierre and her partner and coworker Anthony Lee had clocked out from work at a Bojangles near South Tryon Street and West Arrowood Road. Police say they were smoking marijuana at a bus stop.
“The officers stopped, engaged the two individuals, and stated that they were under arrest,” CMPD said in a news release Wednesday. “(Pierre) became combative and struck an officer in the face. Both individuals refused arrest and a struggle with officers ensued.”
At some point an unnamed officer struck Pierre in the face once, police said.
Backup arrived. Police arrested Lee and found a concealed gun in his bag, they said.
Cue the video captured by a bystander, with Pierre on the ground and police on top of her. A number of people nearby shouted for them to stop as Pistone punched her repeatedly.
“You’re gonna kill her right on the ground,” one bystander said.
Officers carried her to a police car.
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.
Pistone is now on temporary assignment with the investigative division, according to CMPD.
Community has questions
Some have cast doubt on the department’s version of events. At least one witness told Observer news partner WSOC-TV that she never saw Pierre hit an officer.
“Not one time did I ever see her slap him, hit him or anything of that nature,” said the witness, whom WSOC-TV identified only as Donna. “He balled his fist up and he hit her square in the face.”
Will Adams, the founder of community group Team Trublue, told The Charlotte Observer he took Pierre to the hospital. Pictures he provided show marks on her cheeks.
“Our ongoing investigation shows Ms. Pierre assaulting an officer by striking him multiple times in the face as she is resisting arrest,” CMPD said in a news release late Thursday afternoon. “We can now confirm based on interviews and witness accounts that an officer, in response to being physically assaulted, returned a strike to Ms. Pierre’s face one time. This strike occurred during the initial encounter at the bus stop with the responding officers prior to the struggle on the ground involving several other officers.”
It will likely take months for a more complete story to come out.
CMPD has filed a petition for body camera footage to be released. In North Carolina, that requires a court order. Police Chief Johnny Jennings told reporters Wednesday that he thinks there needs to be a way to expedite the release of footage when it’s in the public interest.
The bodycam footage he viewed tells more than social media, he said.
Policy, training and the law
Even when it comes to CMPD’s narrative, community members have concerns.
“I’m just trying to figure out the justification for so many strikes,” Meko McCarthy with Safe Coalition NC said.
North Carolina law lets officers use force to “effect an arrest,” stop someone from escaping arrest or to defend themselves and others.
“Control strikes” — hits to pressure points in the leg, forearm or side of the neck — are one way to get compliance, according to CMPD’s directives.
But hitting someone to make them compliant might not be the best idea, one expert said.
“Strikes are not generally considered acceptable as a compliance tool,” Dennis Kenney, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a former police officer, said.
It becomes more problematic when there are multiple police officers on one person, he said.
The officers could still have been justified, but it would depend on Pierre’s own level of force, Kenney said. Without the bodycam footage, it’s unclear what that force looked like.
There are other tools in the department’s directives. Some are simple, like trying to deescalate with a conversation. Others are intense, like leg sweeps and armbar takedowns.
If one technique isn’t working in an arrest, it might be time to switch to a new one, Jennings said Wednesday.
“We have to really take a close look at that,” he said. “When is enough enough?”
Community trust
Incidents like Monday’s destroy bridges between the community and police, Adams, the founder of Team Trublue, said.
Adams hosts an annual “Stop the Violence” softball game, and he has invited CMPD officers to join. It’s a chance to build rapport, he said.
“We have worked so hard to bridge that gap, to start the process,” he said. “I just feel like what happened Monday takes us all the f------ way back. Now we’ve gotta do this all over again.”
The video of Pierre’s arrest stirred memories of George Floyd, Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP President Corine Mack said.
“My fear was that she was going to die there,” she said.
Another concern for Mack: That the violence on Monday stemmed from alleged marijuana use.
Mecklenburg County District Attorney Spencer Merriweather has said that his office will not prosecute most nonviolent, low-level drug charges.
It all goes back to an implicit bias against Black people, Mack said. Pierre is Black.
“What was the need for these officers to even interact with these two people in the way in which they did?” she asked.
