CHARLOTTE — A new online court system launched in Mecklenburg County this week is was not to blame for the release of details about an incident involving Charlotte Hornets Forward Miles Bridges, according to the Mecklenburg County Clerk of Courts.
Channel 9 was the first to report the existence of the criminal summons on Wednesday evening. On Thursday, the summons was made available on Mecklenburg County’s new online court system, which debuted on Monday.
But the criminal summons that was made public earlier this week was not supposed to be released, at least not yet.
The criminal summons states Bridges violated a protective order during a custody exchange on Oct. 6. The protective order stems from a domestic violence case in 2022.
The summons alleges Bridges threw billiard balls at his ex-girlfriend’s car, damaging her windshield. During the exchange, he threatened to withhold child support and “take everything from her,” according to the summons. Bridges is also facing a child abuse charge because there were children in the car when the vehicle window broke from the billiard balls, according to the criminal summons.
By Friday, the document was removed from Mecklenburg County’s new Odyssey digital court system.
In a statement from the Mecklenburg County Clerk of Superior Court, a spokesperson said, “Search warrants and criminal summons are not public records or accessible to the public until they have been returned or served by law enforcement agencies. The summons was removed from the portal because it is unserved.”
The clerk later stated in the statement that they removed the document because the document had confidential information about a victim who was the subject of a protective order out of California.
“In this instance, enabling access to public records was not the result of an eCourts or other technology error,” the clerk said.
Mecklenburg County said the goal of Odyssey was to allow people to file and access court documents online without having to make a trip to the courthouse.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
- Arrest warrant issued for Hornets forward Miles Bridges
- Miles Bridges pleads ‘no contest’ to domestic violence charge
- Hornets’ Miles Bridges turns himself in; accused of violating protection order
Attorneys in the Charlotte area said they have expressed their concerns about delayed bond hearings, longer wait times to get inmates to the courthouse from jail, and now, private information becoming public before it’s supposed to.
However, the Director of the North Carolina Administrative Office, Ryan Boyce, told Channel 9 he felt confident about the rollout on Monday.
“It really is a big day for Mecklenburg County, having court information online to be able to file online for the first time. So overall, really strong start,” Boyce said.
North Carolina first rolled out Odyssey in four other counties before coming to Mecklenburg County. And at least one of those counties has already asked for an independent review due to several issues with the system.
VIDEO: Hornets forward Miles Bridges accused of breaking a protective order, misdemeanor child abuse
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