CHARLOTTE — A man who says he picked up a flashbang that blew up in his hand during a protest in Uptown, is suing the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
Kyre Mitchell was at a George Floyd protest on May 30, 2020, at Tryon and Fifth streets.
CMPD officers allegedly threw a flash bang at about 11:30 p.m. that landed very close to Mitchell.
“My quick thinking … was like, protect, so that’s what I aimed to do,” Mitchell told Channel 9′s Glenn Counts.
Mitchell said he was very close to a family, so he tried to pick up the flash bang and toss it away, but it exploded.
“I’m so stunned,” he recalled. “I know that I’m hurt, and I look at my hand.”
Mitchell lost two fingers on his right hand.
Mitchell said he didn’t know what he was picking up.
“I think there were several things that were used against us in those moments,” Mitchell said.
Now he is suing the police department.
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“The tactics that they used were completely unnecessary,” said Darlene Harris, Mitchell’s attorney. “The way that they used them was completely unnecessary.”
Harris added, “You’re in your home soil, home turf. You should not have to be worried about being treated like a soldier at war.”
The attorney said the police had no reason to use those kinds of munitions.
“My client should not have to be more considerate of his surroundings than people who technically are supposed to be trained to use these devices,” Harris said.
CMPD said it doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
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