CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jasmine Horne, a former CMS teacher, is opening up again to WCNC Charlotte about her wrongful detainment by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officers outside her home.
Two years ago, officers at Jasmine Horne’s home realized they had the wrong person minutes after placing her in handcuffs and into a squad car.
It was later revealed they had mistaken her for a suspect who had a similar name.
Jasmine says Charlotte is home, but it really hasn't felt the same for the last two years after her encounter with CMPD officers. She's been on this journey for the last couple of months to try to heal and move forward.
"I had two particular students question me about the incident because they saw it on TV with their parents -- one student was really upset because they saw how anxious and fearful of my life I was at that particular moment," Horne said.
For months after the incident, she couldn’t get this encounter with CMPD out of her head.
"I'm relaxing in my, in front of my house, and I'm on my phone, and then I look up, and I have a gun pointed at me and officer screaming at me," Horne said.
She knew she wasn’t supposed to be in handcuffs.
"You know, when you feel safe and your neighborhood, and when you've just felt safe as a person, that's a privilege," Horne said.
The department later said a CMPD license plate reader associated Horne's car with their intended suspect because the system had been given the wrong name. More than a year later--a Charlotte Citizens Review Board would find these officers wrongfully detained Horne.
CMPD maintained the officers were within policy and acting in good faith with the information they were provided.
Horne said her persistence is what pushed the department to answer for her wrongful detention.
"I really just wanted it to be a time where I let people know that it's okay to file a report against authority," Horne said. "And that if you feel that the report wasn't looked at, in a holistic way, for you to file another report."
Horne said she’s temporarily leaving her West Charlotte home—and moving forward to teach abroad.
"I just want a different mindset, a different mentality than what we experienced here in the States," Horne said. "I've talked to some of the teachers that are abroad and these are teachers who are from Thailand, Germany, just different places around the world. And when I'm talking to them, I don't feel like a color -- I feel like a person."
Horne said she’s not running away—just starting a new chapter in her life. She wants to leave people, especially young people, with a message.
"Know your rights, learn your rights," Horne said. "Know your rights, understand what it means when officers stop you, especially when you're at home. Do they have an arrest warrant? What is the probable cause? Just continue to ask questions."
Horne said she follows and encourages others to follow what she calls the commandments of police encounters. It includes turning on your cell phone camera, speaking in complete sentences for the record, and writing down any information you remember immediately after the incident happens.
The commandments also include filing a complaint to get help from the American Civil Liberties Union, which also has a list of best practices for encounters with law enforcement.
CMPD's last statement following the decision by the Citizen Review Board:
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department recognizes the board’s point of view and has reviewed all recommendations that were provided. We welcome this feedback and the opportunity to respond as we continue to evaluate our work and seek ways to improve.
At 5:10 p.m. on June 13, 2021, CMPD officers responded to a 911 call for service where a victim, Prentice Allen, was lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood after being stabbed 15 times in the back and the neck. Witnesses on the scene identified the suspect as Jasmine Horne. As officers continued to investigate the attempted murder, they entered a vehicle registered to Jasmine Horne into the license plate reader system and received a hit that matched. After officers were dispatched to respond, they encountered Ms. Horne at her home. Officers believed she was an attempted murder suspect and engaged her accordingly to detain and seek clarification about her identity. Once officers verified that Ms. Horne was not the actual suspect, they released her within 12 minutes. It is important to note that this situation, a case of mistaken identity, is extremely rare. Officers acted professionally and respectfully during the entire encounter and conducted their investigation based on the information provided by witnesses.
This was an unfortunate situation, and CMPD has apologized to Ms. Horne for her experience as officers were working to remove a dangerous criminal from our community. The actual suspect, Jaselyn Horne, was taken into custody a short time later.
The Internal Affairs investigation reviewed the actions of the two officers who detained Jasmine Horne. Based on information they had, both officers followed CMPD policies and the law. As a result, they were exonerated at the conclusion of the IA hearing. They did what is expected of any officer with information about a dangerous, violent criminal.
After reviewing the incident and the CRB recommendations, the CMPD decided to take additional actions beyond the outlined recommendations including an external agency review of license plate reader best practices, hiring an outside consultant to review communication processes, verifying LPR entries more frequently, additional training and more.
Contact Shamarria Morrison at smorrison@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.