CMPD addresses body cam video showing arrest

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said he was disturbed by some of what he saw on body camera video of an arrest in March 2016, but he believes the community needs to see the video in its entirety.

Police announced Thursday that they are asking a judge to release the body camera video, first for the department.

“My reaction, anytime I see a use of force, I hold my breath like anybody else,” Putney said Thursday afternoon as he spoke with reporters about the video that shows several officers wrestling with James Yarborough as they tried to arrest him on weapons charges.

Yarborough brought the video to Eyewitness News more than a year after the arrest where he said he knows he should not have run from police, but was afraid they would send him back to prison.

The video shows officers repeatedly yelling at Yarborough, telling him to put his hands behind his back, but he does not.

“There’s somebody lying on top of me the whole time,” Yarborough said as he watched the video again.

“They rolled me over. They punched me in my face three times. It was all a blur. I feel like they tried to kill me out there,” he said.

Putney said that much of what he saw on the video, including the punches, was in line with police training and policies on use of force, but what he could not justify was when Officer John Dunham put a gun to Yarborough’s head and threatened to kill him.

“No one is defending putting a gun to somebody's head in that situation,” Putney said.

He said Dunham was involved in an internal investigation but resigned before it was complete, so they could not discipline him.

Cox Media Group