CHARLOTTE, N.C.,None — The Transit Center in uptown Charlotte has been the center of controversy over the last several months.
Charlotte Transit and the private security company that patrols it have tried to make sure people are not simply hanging around, but in one case, a man told Channel 9 they went too far.
"I came over into the transit … came in and got an iced tea," said Charlotte resident Reggie Smith.
Smith showed Channel 9 he had done this same thing several times over the last couple of months when he was uptown picking up his wife after work. Two times, Smith said, an officer with Allied Barton Security asked him to leave but the third time, which was three weeks ago, that officer didn't give Smith a chance to leave.
"He said, ‘Stand up. Put your hands behind your back. You're under arrest,'" Smith said. "At that time, I said, ‘Why, what did I do?' He said, ‘You dropped a piece of paper on the ground.'"
Smith found himself being booked into the Mecklenburg County Jail for loitering and littering.
"To be arrested for a single littering charge is a bit much," Smith said. "I think it is over bounds. I think it is stereotyping and I think I'm being singled out."
Channel 9 went to the Transit Center where a representative said Smith had plenty of warning. "Unfortunately, Mr. Smith didn't take the warnings of our law enforcement officers and that was the result," said Charlotte Area Transit System spokesman Olaf Kinard.
The county's chief public defender said the court system is already trying to find the time for more serious cases.
"You always want to question how you're using resources. Resources are extremely scarce," said public defender Kevin Tully.
WSOC
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