CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The group Charlotte Uprising held a ‘speak-out’ on the steps of the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office, Monday, calling on the DA to drop all charges against them.
The speak-out comes after more than 40 members of the group were arrested Thursday by the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office.
Eboni Exceus says she was one of those arrested and says she now faces several charges.
“It was resisting a public officer, disorderly conduct, second-degree trespassing and failure to disperse," she said.
According to its website, Charlotte Uprising is a coalition advocating for police accountability and social and economic equity. Several weeks ago, the group set-up a jail support tent outside the magistrate’s office, across the street from the jail in uptown Charlotte.
To date, the group says they’ve fed and given rides to more than 100 people who’ve just been released from the jail, many of whom are protestors. The group says oftentimes people are released without cell phones and some they say are released without clothing.
“So let's be clear, jail support is where we’re building and practicing community love,” one member called out during the speak-out.
But Mecklenburg County Sheriff Gary McFadden, says the group has been harassing visitors, employees, and impeding daily business operations.
“We also had our flag stolen, we had feces outside, we had urination outside, they started sleeping outside, we tolerated all of that, plus they had a pit bull, so we said you have to contain what you have,” said Sheriff McFadden.
The Sheriff says despite attempts to work with the group, including offering to pick-up their trash, he ultimately gave the group notice at 10 a.m. Thursday that they needed to relocate by 2 p.m. that day.
He says that’s when the group put out a media blast asking people to join them for a “sit-in.”
“They brought in other people who had another agenda, and it turned out it be what it was,” he says.
Sheriff McFadden says he intended on conducting a peaceful removal, but several members of the group who were arrested said it was anything but peaceful.
“All we did was stand there and they jumped on top of us, we were slammed to the ground, some people were thrown across,” says Exceus.
“I was brutally assaulted, slammed to the ground with my shoulder pulled behind my back,” says AJ Ferreira, who attended Monday’s speak out with a sling on their arm.
Ferreira says they were denied medical attention.
Once inside the jail, Exceus says no COVID-19 health precautions were taken. She says deputies took away their face masks and made them sit in confined spaces.
“We were fingerprinted on a machine that was cleaned by baby wipes rather than a disinfectant,” she says.
The jail support group has since relocated across the street, now set-up on E. 4th street, in a space in between the courthouse and the Mecklenburg County Government Center.
Monday, WCNC visited the new location to speak with members of the group, when a woman sternly advised us to “check our Facebook or Twitter pages.” She said the group “does not speak to the media, because they just twist everything you say.”
WCNC Charlotte also reached out to District Attorney, Spencer B. Merriweather III’s office, who provided the following comment:
The vibrant exercise of free speech in our community in recent weeks should be recognized as a means by which we can fully realize our promise as a community and as a country. Laying our grievances before our government by protesting is one of our most fundamental rights as Americans, and therefore, it is critical that this office carefully consider protest-related charges on a case-by-case basis to determine the just and appropriate outcome.
As a result of the pandemic, misdemeanor District Court operations have been suspended for more than three months, and it is unclear when District Court will reopen for general criminal proceedings. Meanwhile, thousands of misdemeanor cases have been charged. Our priority during this period of limited court operations has been and will continue to be the review of felony cases. As we typically do in all matters, we plan to review cases on their merits to determine what evidence exists before making a determination as to the appropriate outcome. That will require reviewing accounts with arresting officers, which will not occur until District Court operations are expanded.
With no one remaining in pretrial custody solely because of protest-related cases, review of these particular cases will not skip the line ahead of the thousands of other misdemeanor cases in which victims and defendants are awaiting disposition. When District Court resumes, cases involving assaults and property damage – whether they are connected with protests or not – will be prioritized.