CHARLOTTE — A 32-year-old man was charged with first-degree kidnapping after a violent assault was captured on a doorbell camera in east Charlotte.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers said that at 7:20 a.m. Wednesday they responded to a welfare check call on Driftwood Drive, near Albemarle Road.
When they arrived, police said a resident showed them video footage from their doorbell camera. The video showed a violent encounter between two people and was time-stamped at 3 a.m.
(WARNING: CMPD released the below video of the assault which is disturbing to watch)
In the video, a woman can be seen trying to run away from the suspect and looking for help. The suspect then grabs the victim, throws her to the ground and then punches her multiple times. The video then shows the victim being dragged against her will toward a car parked on the street.
Detectives later identified who the two were. Louis Lamontrez Meadows was the man police said was seen attacking the woman in the video.
On Thursday morning, members from the DMV Incident Management Assistance Patrol found the suspect’s car and called CMPD. Officers responded and found both the victim and suspect.
Meadows was taken into custody on an unrelated arrest warrant. He was also charged with assault on a female.
The victim was taken to a safe location and officers said the incident involved domestic violence.
Meadows was also charged with assault on a female and communicating threats in 2015.
“When she checked the camera, she looked at the video on there,” the homeowner told Channel 9 on Wednesday. “She (the victim) is going to the door and saying ‘Help,’ but he hit her.”
The homeowner didn’t want to be identified but told Channel 9 his wife looked at the video after seeing some items in their yard that did not belong to them. They called the police right away.
“I’m scared. I’m scared because (I’ve lived) here for a year, and I (haven’t seen anything) like that,” he said.
The man said he often plays in the front yard with his daughter and wife.
“She (is) scared too,” the homeowner said. “My wife is scared, too.”
CMPD held a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
“Looking at the video, it tells me the person who perpetrated this attack is a violent person,” said CMPD Capt. Joel McNeely. “It’s critical for us to get information on this immediately because we believe the victim was hurt and needs medical attention, so that’s job number one. Did the attack continue? Did they go somewhere else? We just don’t know the answer to these things.”
The investigation into this case is active and ongoing.
“I don’t like this situation,” neighbor Manley Roldan said. “That’s so bad to hear that happened in this neighborhood.”
Anyone with information should call 911 immediately. The public can also leave information anonymously by contacting Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600 or by clicking here.
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