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Channel 9 anchor rides with Meck Co. deputies serving domestic violence warrants

By Scott Wickersham, wsoctv.com
By Scott Wickersham, wsoctv.com

MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. — Family violence impacts many in our area, and this week, Mecklenburg County deputies were focused on breaking the cycle of domestic crimes.

Only Channel 9 anchor Scott Wickersham, who rode along with deputies as they worked to find 168 local suspects and arrested five people on domestic violence charges, learned about the passion behind the operation.

Cpl. D. Johnston, who has been part of the sheriff's domestic-violence team for almost 20 years, has been on the job long enough to see the cycle of violence repeat itself.

"The cycle has to stop,” Johnston said. “It starts when the children see it and they repeat what their parents are doing.”

Wickersham got into the patrol car and hit the road for the next warrant, which brought him to an apartment in south Charlotte where a woman was arrested and booked into jail. A man with the same address, who is wanted for assault, wasn’t at the home.

At an apartment in east Charlotte, a man was arrested for assault on a female.

The sheriff's department was hoping to serve more than 200 arrest warrants on the day.

The duty can be dangerous, but Johnston said he takes it personally.

"I grew up in it,” Johnston said. “(I) gotta break the cycle. Alcoholic dad, that's all you can say.”

Johnston has a passion for the job and believes he's changing lives and preventing more serious violence down the road.

Sheriff Irwin Carmichael said officers are committed to their duty.

"We take it serious,” Carmichael said. “That’s why we have eight full-time deputies. That’s their whole job...domestic violence"

Carmichael said officers served 3,200 domestic orders last year and already have served more than 3,400 this year.

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