Charlotte Police Officer Charged In Death Of Pedestrian

CHARLOTTE, NC -- A Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officer has been charged after he struck and killed a pedestrian in uptown Charlotte early Saturday morning while speeding in a patrol car speeding to an accident call.

CMPD officer Phillip Barker, 24, along with two other marked patrol cars, were responding to a call July 8 that a car had struck a building.The officers in the three patrol cars were en route to the vehicle accident scene at 810 Morehead Street when Barker’s marked police car struck James Michael Short, 28, while he crossed Morehead Street near Euclid Avenue around 3:20 a.m. The victim was pronounced dead on the scene by paramedics.

Speed contributed to the accident, according to CMPD Chief Kerr Putney. Barker was traveling about 100 miles per hour in a 35 mph zone, Putney said in a press conference Wednesday afternoon. “When we in law enforcement violate the law, we must hold ourselves accountable, just as we would anyone else,” Putney said.

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Barker, who has been on the CMPD force since January 2016, has been charged with misdemeanor death by vehicle.

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