CMPD body cam video shows officers mistakenly handcuff CMS teacher at gunpoint

CHARLOTTE — Charlotte-Mecklenburg police have released the body camera video from an incident last summer after a teacher said she was misidentified as a suspect.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools teacher told Channel 9 she is traumatized after she was swarmed by cops on June 14, 2021, in front of her home in west Charlotte. The second-grade teacher told Channel 9′s Dashawn Brown that she was sitting in her car outside her home when CMPD officers quickly moved in.

[ PREVIOUS: ‘I was ambushed’: CMS teacher says CMPD mistook her for suspect, pointed gun at her ]

“I wasn’t stopped, I was ambushed by the police,” she said. “I was already sitting in my car in front of my house when they stopped me and they followed me.”

Channel 9 is not using the woman’s name because she is not a suspect in a crime, but her name is similar to the suspect’s name whom police were looking for. She said one of the officers even pointed a gun at her because they mistakenly believed her to be the woman they were looking for.

“He’s maybe about three feet away,” she said. “‘Get out of the car, get out of the car, get out now.’ And I’m like, ‘What?’ No ‘Can I see your license and registration?’ No ‘Excuse me ma’am.’ None of that.”

In the video, CMPD officers can be seen with their guns drawn shouting, “Put your hands up!”

She tells them she lives there.

“Got anything in your shoes or anything? No weed, nothing like that?” an officer asked.

“I don’t smoke. I’m a school teacher. I don’t understand what’s going on,” she replied.

In the video, officers can be seen putting the teacher into handcuffs and you can hear the sound of heavy breathing.

“Hey, just take a deep breath. You’re alright,” an officer said.

The woman spoke with Channel 9 again the day the video was released.

“Knowing that I am also a public servant, there are certain things that I don’t do as a school teacher, I’ll get fired. Especially if there are things that could endanger a child’s safety, a human being’s safety,” she said.

(WATCH FULL INTERVIEW: Channel 9′s DaShawn Brown sits down with CMPD chief about teacher who was mistakenly handcuffed, held at gunpoint)

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In the video, one of the CMPD officers can be heard explaining to the woman’s grandmother and mother what he believed went wrong. They said they got an email that the actual suspect was driving the woman’s car.

“So you would go and just arrest somebody just because of an email? And not find out the person’s name and who the car belongs to?” her mom asked police.

Channel 9′s DaShawn Brown sat down with CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings, who said the officers on the scene acted in good faith with the information they had. Jennings said the wrong information was entered into the system.

“The safeguards that we need to put in place, and have been in place, are particularly on the supervisory level -- when we put information in and we gather information,” Jennings said. “Once we confirm that information, if it’s found not to be the correct information, then we need to take every step and make sure we’re checking every box.”

“The only thing that they said was ‘I’m sorry,’” the woman told Channel 9. “And that wasn’t enough for me. I felt like I was stripped of my humanity at that point.”

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According to police, a man was stabbed several times on June 13, 2021, and told officers a woman he knew was responsible for his injuries. CMPD said he told officers the woman’s name was identical to the woman’s. Police said they used that name and a car associated with that name and entered them into CMPD’s License Plate Reader (LPR) system.

Police said the next day, the LPR system alerted it had a match for the car they were looking for, and officers found that car with her inside.

She was handcuffed and put inside a patrol car, according to police. CMPD said she was cooperative, compliant and helped with the investigation. When officers realized she was not the suspect they were looking for, she was released within 15 minutes of her first being placed in handcuffs, CMPD said. She wasn’t hurt in the incident and neither were any of the officers, police said.

The woman filed a complaint with CMPD and reached out to Chief Jennings. In a statement, the department said it is investigating the incident to make sure officers acted appropriately and in accordance with state law.

“Even though what they did was justified in trying to take a dangerous criminal off the street, we have to think about the effects that it has on those we come in contact with, so this lady who had the mistaken identity was mistaken for the suspect was traumatized, and we can’t forget that,” Jennings said in June.

In a news release, CMPD said an internal investigation was conducted by the CMPD Internal Affairs Bureau. Channel 9 has reached out to CMPD for comment on where that internal investigation stands.

In the news release, the department said the actions of the officers who detained the woman “were found to be within policy of the CMPD as the officers were acting in good faith with the information that they were provided.” Police said there is an ongoing internal investigation to see if any policies were violated in entering her name into the LPR system.

>> CMPD has released 10 clips of the incident.

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