Body Cam Video: CMPD Officer Pressed A Gun To An Unarmed Suspect's Head During Arrest Attempt

CHARLOTTE, NC -- Video of Charlotte police officers chasing a suspect on foot, tackling and punching him repeatedly while he laid face down on the ground has emerged Monday night, and reveals one officer pressed his service pistol to the man’s head. That officer now works as a patrol officer in the Town of Davidson.

The stunning CMPD body cam video is of a March 26, 2016 incident following a car stop for a vehicle believed to be connected to a series of larcenies, according to WBTV. James Yarborough was a passenger in the car, and told the reporter he was just getting a lift back to his truck that had run out of gas when the car he was in was pulled over. He said the driver had tried to sell him a pistol. “When police stopped the car, Yarborough said, he decided it would be better to run away from the pistol than get charged with having a gun,” WBTV said.

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WBTV posted video of the incident from the vantage point of two police body cameras. You can see the videos of the incident here and here. “I will kill you. You understand?” one of the four officers is heard saying as they struggled with Yarborough. Officer Jon Dunham was identified as the officer who put his gun to Yarborough's head, the station said.

CMPD confirmed that Yarborough was being detained during a felony car stop when he ran from officers. They chased him on foot for more than three minutes before they caught him.

“Officer Dunham and other officers attempted to arrest the suspect who was resisting and refused officers commands to comply and show them both of his hands to ensure that he did not have a gun,” a CMPD spokesperson told Charlotte Patch Monday evening in an emailed statement. “Officer Dunham subsequently drew his service weapon and pointed it at the suspect in order to gain compliance and place him under arrest.”

Yarborough was initially charged with possession of a firearm by a felon after a gun was found in the vehicle in addition to resisting arrest, but both of those charges were later dismissed.

Following the incident, CMPD’s Internal Affairs Unit conducted an investigation and found “that due to the totality of the events,” Dunham’s use of force was not in violation of the police department’s policies, CMPD said.

While internal affairs did not find that Dunham violated department policy, the department did recommend he receive additional verbal communication training following the incident. Before he could receive it, however, he quit and joined the police force in Davidson, N.C.

Less than two months following the incident, Dunham took his oath at the Davidson Police Department during a town board meeting May 10, 2016, according to a report in the Herald Weekly at the time. He is currently listed as a Patrol Corporal on the town’s website. According to Davidson town newsletters, Dunham previously worked for the town from 2005 to 2008, when he left to work for CMPD’s metro division. Prior to his 2005 hire with the town, he was a paramedic for 14 years, a 2005 newsletter stated when announcing his original hiring.

Cpl. Jon Dunham/ Photo via Town of Davidson

“He decided to return to the Davidson Police Department in May 2016 because he missed community-based policing,” the 2016 newsletter said. Soon thereafter, in October 2016, he was promoted to the rank of corporal.

Body cameras have been standard issue for Davidson’s police department since September 2014, when they became the first police force in Mecklenburg County to use them.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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