No excessive force in arrest of man who refused to wear mask at NC market, sheriff says
The arrest of a man North Carolina cops say refused to wear a face mask didn’t involve excessive force, a sheriff says.
Charles Redell Moody had said a Forsyth County deputy used that type of force when he was taken into custody on Saturday, the Winston-Salem Journal reported.
Video on social media shows Moody standing at a Cooks Flea Market counter while a sheriff’s deputy grabs him and tells him to put his hand behind his back. Then the deputy turns Moody, whose body hits the wall multiple times before others help to restrain him, according to the footage.
One version of the video had about 18,000 views on Facebook as of Monday morning. The footage, which is posted below, contains explicit language.
Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby F. Kimbrough Jr. at a news conference Monday afternoon said he and other community leaders had reviewed body camera footage that showed more of the incident.
“The officer was called to the scene after the gentleman refused the free mask,” he said. “He refused to wear a mask, and he was asked to leave.”
The news conference came after Kimbrough Jr. in a Facebook post on Sunday said his department was reviewing all video from an incident at the Winston-Salem flea market. The sheriff’s office typically investigates incidents involving use of force, spokesperson Christina Howell wrote Monday morning in an email to McClatchy News.
“I have spoken with both the individual in the video and his family, as well as the deputy involved,” he wrote Sunday. “Together we will come to a resolution.”
In response to a request for comment, Cooks Flea Market representative on Monday afternoon referred McClatchy News to video from the Forsyth County news conference.
In a statement to WGHP, the flea market said a man was asked multiple times to wear a face mask but refused. He was also told to leave before a sheriff’s deputy who was working security came to escort him out of the building, according to the TV station.
Under orders from North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, people must wear face coverings in public to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Someone who refuses to wear a face mask inside a business could be charged with trespassing.
But Moody disputes the flea market’s narrative, saying he forgot to wear a face mask and wasn’t asked to leave, according to the Winston-Salem Journal. He was charged with “resisting arrest and trespassing,” according to the sheriff’s office.
“If my guys are wrong, I’ll be the first one to check them because before I was the sheriff, before I was an agent, I was a Black man,” Kimbrough Jr. said. “I understand the sensitivity of being colored, Black, African American. But what I don’t get into is that we’re not going to manipulate a situation based on the culture and the climate that we’re in.”
Demonstrators gathered outside of the business following the arrest of Moody, who is Black, WGHP reported. The deputy is white.
The incident also came as protests continue following the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a Minneapolis officer knelt on his neck for about eight minutes. That officer and three others were charged. Protesters are calling for reforms in policing.
This story was originally published June 29, 2020 at 11:00 AM with the headline "No excessive force in arrest of man who refused to wear mask at NC market, sheriff says."
