Senior Attorney Darlene Harris, Pivotal in Settling with CMPD

Oakhurst Legal Group Senior Attorney, Darlene Harris, worked alongside human rights activists to reach a settlement with the City of Charlotte following Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s (CMPD) use of tear gas on a group of protesters rallying for the late George Floyd. 

The City of Charlotte and the CMPD agreed to re-evaluate their policies when responding to protests. The settlement includes a ban on the use of chemical weapons to kettle protesters and for crowd dispersal orders to be communicated clearly. In addition, dispersal orders must be repeated in both English and Spanish languages to give protesters the time to disperse. 

Settlement with CMPD Following Kettling of Protesters

The settlement and the change in policy follows a protest on June 2, 2020 where hundreds of people took to the streets to protest against police brutality after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killed Floyd. According to the protesters and the video from the incident, CMPD used tear gas to disperse the crowd and some of them even got trapped with nowhere to escape due to a plan by police officers to block exit paths.

The settlement was reached in July 2021, over a year after the original incident. On behalf of Senior Attorney Darlene Harris, we thank other organizations that worked together to reach this milestone.

WCNC Coverage of the Kettling Settlement for Police Misconduct

To read more about the settlement, visit WCNC for the complete report. For similar matters, do not hesitate to call Oakhurst Legal Group to assist you with matters regarding police brutality. 

https://www.wcnc.com/video/news/local/city-of-charlotte-reaches-settlement-on-cmpd-use-of-tear-gas-on-protesters-in-uptown/275-e566df93-3566-4de0-9846-fa8a8fee1343