The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department released a video of the moments leading to the in-custody death of Harold Easter in January.
CMPD released the videos just after 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 1. The release consists of more than 5 hours of footage spread across 17 different videos. The release includes police body-worn cameras of the arrest, transport, and surveillance video of the detention of Harold Easter on January 23, 2020.
** GRAPHIC VIDEO WARNING ** Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police have released this video to the public in compliance with a ruling from the Mecklenburg County Superior Court. This video is hard to watch and maybe very disturbing. *
https://youtu.be/BYr_OkFfDbE
CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings and Mayor Vi Lyles, along with other city leaders, addressed the public at 2 p.m Friday., just hours after the video was released.
“It’s been extremely heartbreaking to me to see the impact this has had on the Easter family,” Chief Jennings said. “They’re good people. Something they should not have had to endure and live through. I do pray they find comfort in knowing that the police department did what we had to do to hold these officers accountable.”
Jennings continued, “And I don’t believe these officers had malicious intent, but they did make a bad decision and they didn’t follow policy. Those bad decisions have consequences, especially when those decisions have contributed to the loss of life. A life that we had the responsibility to protect. When someone’s in our custody they’re also in our care.”
Chief Jennings said the video, which he has watched multiple times, was “arguably one of the most difficult videos” he’s had to watch in his “entire career.”
ARREST:
- Harold Easter was arrested on drug and traffic charges by CMPD on Jan. 23, 2020, just north of uptown Charlotte near Burton Street during a traffic stop just at 11:40 a.m.
- CMPD says Easter was seen making a drug deal before he was pulled over. Officers say he had cocaine and marijuana.
