CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals is hearing cases this week relating to two fatal shootings involving the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
The cases relate to the deaths of Ruben Galindo and Danquirs Franklin, two people who died after being shot by CMPD officers in 2017 and 2019, respectively. Both cases were dismissed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina in 2021.
Appeals were made after these cases were thrown out of federal court and both appeared on the appeals court's schedule for this week. Franklin's case was heard on Tuesday. Galindo's case will be heard on Wednesday.
Franklin died on March 25, 2019 after being shot by CMPD officer Wende Kerl outside the Burger King on Beatties Ford Road during an armed robbery attempt. Kerl ordered Franklin to drop his weapon multiple times before opening fire when she perceived a threat, according to police.
CMPD released the body camera footage to the public the following month amid mounting pressure from the Charlotte community.
No criminal charges were filed against Kerl as the Mecklenburg County District Attorney's Office said they, "could not prove to a jury that Officer Kerl's perception that the presence, motion, and position of the gun posed an imminent threat to her, Officer Deal, and T.G. was unreasonable beyond a reasonable doubt."
A wrongful death lawsuit was filed in 2020 by the family of Franklin but was dismissed in November 2021.
"The Court concludes in the qualified immunity analysis that Officer Kerl’s use of force was reasonable, and not excessive," U.S. District Court Judge Graham Mullen wrote in his filing Friday.
Over time, Kerl's actions have been controversial and disputed by different reviewing agencies.
In Feb. 2020, Charlotte's Citizen Review Board voted unanimously that CMPD should not have deemed the deadly shooting of Danquirs Franklin 'justified.'
"A preponderance of the evidence in the case demonstrated that CMPD clearly erred in finding the fatal shooting of Danquirs Franklin justified during their review," Julian Wright, counsel to the Charlotte Citizen Review Board (CRB), wrote at the time.
But Charlotte's Citizen Review Board can only advise and has no legal authority to overrule decisions.
Arguments were made to the appeals court from both sides of Franklin's case on Tuesday. The court will make a decision on this case at a future date.
Galindo died on Sept. 6, 2017, after calling 911 to ask for officers in response to him having a gun, according to court records. A dispatcher told police that an armed man with a gun wanted help from officers.
The officers said they issued multiple commands for Galindo to drop his weapon. When he refused to drop the weapon, officers perceived an imminent threat and shot him, a former CMPD chief said after the incident.
Galindo died after being shot. His family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2019.
Galindo stated that he had been consuming alcohol and gave conflicting statements concerning whether he had also taken drugs during his 911 call conversation with the Spanish-speaking interpreter.
As officers were heading to the Hunters Pointe apartment complex, a dispatcher can be heard saying, "any Spanish-speaking officer that could assist North Tryon on an armed person call?"
According to the lawsuit, Officer Guerra gave Galindo commands in English despite knowing he spoke Spanish. Prior 911 calls had shown Galindo was not speaking English with dispatchers, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said the city was also negligent for improperly training the officers in the use of deadly force without giving time to the command “drop the weapon.”
The Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office cleared the officers of criminal wrongdoing. The District Attorney determined Galindo was mentally unstable, impaired, and failed to obey officer commands.
A federal judge dismissed the case in October 2021. The appeals court will hear arguments on the case on Wednesday.