For The First Time Charlotte Police Ruled Against By Citizens Review Board

CHARLOTTE, NC — In a landmark and near unanimous vote Tuesday, Charlotte’s Citizens Review Board tasked with reviewing complaints of officer misconduct ruled against the city’s police department’s handling of a case involving video of an officer putting a gun to a suspect’s head.

The 7-1 vote Sept. 26 represents the first time the CRB has come back with a verdict countering CMPD since its inception 20 years ago, The Charlotte Observer reports.

In April, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said he did not defend police officer actions shown in the March 2016 video that ended with officers chasing a suspect on foot, tackling and punching him repeatedly while he laid face down on the ground.

The videos reveal one officer pressed his service pistol to the man’s head. That officer, Jon Dunham, now works as a patrol officer in the Town of Davidson.

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.

You can read Charlotte Patch’s story about the incident and find links to the videos here.

“Since the Citizens Review Board heard the initial appeal of this case, CMPD has made policy changes in response to concerns raised by board members,” CMPD said in a statement immediately following the Sept. 26 vote.

Those policy changes, according to CMPD, include:

• Creating a unit to randomly audit body worn camera video from all officers with the intent of identifying organizational training gaps and individual policy violations.
• Giving immediate attention to tactical concerns noted in use-of-force cases, regardless of whether policy violations also are involved.
• Treating all complaints brought to CMPD Headquarters or a Division Office in person, as formal complaints, any time they involve issues reviewable by the Citizens Review Board.
• Completing and adjudicating internal investigations, even if officers leave CMPD before the process is completed.

“Chief Kerr Putney welcomes any recommendations the board sees fit to make and is committed to fully reviewing each of those to determine whether they can help us more effectively serve our community,” the CMPD statement said.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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