CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Three Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officers are being treated after they were hurt while trying to take a suspect into custody Friday.
This happened around noon in north Charlotte in the 9800 block of Spring Park Drive, which is located near Clarks Creek Park off Hucks Road. The street is about half a mile east of Old Statesville Road.
WCNC Charlotte spoke to the homeowner, who said her daughter called to alert her that an intruder and police were in the house.
"I could hear him downstairs, I could also hear the officers with him," the homeowner said. "He was in the house, at least long enough to have helped himself to a drink and was preparing to help himself to another drink."
CMPD said they received a call from a neighbor about a suspicious suspect.
Police said after arriving to the scene and trying to talk to the suspect, the man walked back inside the house he had already broken into, and they followed.
"We obviously want to make sure that we can take him into custody before he is able to reach anyone else because at that time we're not completely sure of who is in the house, who isn't in the house," CMPD said.
Police said after following the suspect and trying to take him into custody he resisted and fought back. During the brawl, one officer was choked and another sustained an eye injury.
"The physical confrontation continued there in a living room area just inside the doorway, and additional units began arriving on scene and it ultimately took seven officers here on scene to take him into custody," CMPD said.
The officers, who have not been publicly identified, were taken to an undisclosed hospital for treatment of "serious but non-life threatening" injuries, according to the police department. The suspect, who has also not been publicly identified at this time, suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
The family said they just fully moved into this home last weekend, and it was shocking for something like this to happen, and during the day.
"This person was willing to fight his way through whatever he felt was right in the morning, which he honestly was saying this was his home," the homeowner said. "At one point, I heard him ask them why they were doing this to him, 'cause he was at home."
The homeowner said this was traumatizing for the family, but they're thankful the suspect was taken into custody and no one was hurt.
"There is a lot of gratitude," the homeowner said, adding it could've been much worse.
Contact Tradesha Woodard at twoodard1@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.