CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A judge extended the temporary restraining order that prevents Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police from using chemical agents and other crowd control tactics against peaceful protesters during a supplemental hearing Friday.
The hearing was scheduled one week after the restraining order was issued. The order was issued following a lawsuit filed by the NAACP and other civil rights groups over a June 2 incident that saw Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers seemingly trap protesters in uptown.
The judge said Friday that her order was misrepresented to suggest officers could not use chemical agents, such as tear gas, against protesters damaging property.
Riot-control, chemical agents include smoke and pepper spray, which have been used by police departments across the country during protests following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
"Protesters who were attacked by Charlotte-Mecklenburg law enforcement during a peaceful protest against police brutality, sued the city of Charlotte and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney [Friday] for violating their state constitutional rights," reads a joint statement issued last Friday by the groups involved in the lawsuit.
In question are actions taken by CMPD on June 2 along Fourth Street in uptown Charlotte.
Facebook Live video recorded by Charlotte Nerve, one of the organizations involved in the lawsuit, showed protesters becoming seemingly trapped between two lines of police officers deploying riot control agents.
CMPD Deputy Chief Jeffrey Estes said last week there was no pre-planned operation by CMPD or any other authority figures to box protesters in.