Civil rights groups and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police have reached a settlement on how the department interacts with civilian unrest.

The ACLU of North Carolina, Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and Charlotte-based civil rights attorneys reached the agreement with the city and CMPD after a violent June 2020 confrontation in which police used chemical agents against peaceful marchers protesting police brutality. The settlement will be in effect for four years and opens the door to enforce police violations.

A lawsuit filed by the plaintiffs – which included four civilians – alleged that CMPD trapped demonstrators through a military-inspired maneuver called “kettling,” followed by a barrage of rubber bullets, tear gas, stinger grenades and pepper balls shot from an adjacent parking lot. The agreement outlines changes to police policies and practices agreed to as a result of the lawsuit, and many of them were in place before the settlement was reached.

“People should not be brutalized when they are exercising their right to protest. This agreement is a step in the right direction, but it’s insufficient to reckon with the violence and trauma protesters endured at the hands of police across the state last year,” Kristie Puckett-Williams, statewide manager of the ACLU of North Carolina’s Campaign for Smart Justice said in a statement.

The agreement includes revisions to CMPD rules of engagement, including:

• Banning the use of chemical agents such as tear gas during protests

• Prohibition of chemical weapons to trap protesters

• Crowd dispersal orders must be communicated in English and Spanish in order to allow protesters time to disperse

• Identification of at least two egress routes for protesters to disperse and

• Prohibition of firing pepper balls at protesters’ heads and necks. The agreement also states that the CMPD will not use bikes as weapons during protests, except when someone poses a threat to safety.

“We are pleased that we, along with other plaintiffs, could reach an agreement with the City of Charlotte and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department. Black people have long protested for fair treatment under the law, which includes law enforcement’s responses to our peaceful protests to protect the lives of Black people and people of color from law enforcement,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP President Rev. Corrine Mack said. “We trust and believe in a law that guarantees us the freedom to assemble and the freedom of speech. Our agreement is another step in a series of ongoing efforts to protect those fundamental rights before using arbitrary and violent police force. Our First Amendment is the bedrock of our fundamental rights and does not exclude Black people and people of color.”

Civil rights activists demanded bans on chemical agents as part of CMPD's arsenal shortly after the confrontation. They also called on City Council to drop funding of military-grade ordnance and tactics as part of a drive to remake law enforcement's engagement with civilians – especially Black people – in the wake of George Floyd's murder by Minneapolis, Minnesota, police in May 2020. Floyd, a Fayetteville native, was Black.

“There hasn’t been nearly enough reckoning from the police’s actions in response to last year’s protests,” said Chantal Stevens, executive director of the ACLU of North Carolina. “We must not forget that people were protesting police violence and the police brutally proved the point of the protesters with their violent actions. We will continue to support protesters in their demands for justice and police accountability.”

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