Complaints of police misconduct have cost Raleigh millions. Here’s what settlements reveal
Since 2012, the City of Raleigh has paid nearly $4.3 million in settlements to 47 individuals, families and estates saying its police department used excessive force and other unconstitutional acts when confronting people on public streets and in their homes.
The settlements, some of them never reported before, aren’t indictments of how all Raleigh Police Department officers perform. But they are windows into what lawyers and some city residents say are patterns of misconduct that harm local residents, especially Black residents and those with mental and other health impairments.
Over the years, the settlement payouts have increased from thousands of dollars to millions and criminal charges were dropped, the settlements show. The increasing costs are signals that serious problems in how some officers treat people they are hired to serve have been allowed to continue, local civil rights lawyers say.
In some complaints, people accused the Raleigh police department of fostering a culture that embraces the use of excessive force and other abuse, especially in minority communities, such as Southeast Raleigh.
Police Chief Estella Patterson declined The News & Observer requests for interviews about the settlements and their implications, saying she cannot discuss specific cases. In a written statement she said all allegations are taken seriously.
“Our officers often face challenging, dangerous, and rapidly evolving situations,” Patterson wrote. “I am committed to making sure we provide them with the training and equipment to facilitate safe and effective resolutions in dynamic circumstances.”
But in public statements and court filings, police leaders have repeatedly found that officers acted properly in encounters that led to the settled lawsuits. Descriptions of 16 out of 17 settlements below group the cases into three categories that are repeated in the lawsuits and complaints threatening lawsuits that prompted the settlements.
Excessive force
Estate of Keith Collins
Settlement amount: $100,000
Date of incident: Jan. 30, 2020
Date of settlement: August 2022
Raleigh police Officer W.B. Tapscott responded to a report of Collins walking into Big Lots with a gun in his pants around 3 p.m.
Collins initially ran toward home but turned and pointed the gun at Tapscott, according to Raleigh police and District Attorney Lorrin Freeman.
Collins’ mother, Gloria Mayo, said her son had developmental disabilities and police should have done more to de-escalate the situation.
The city settled with Collins’ family before a lawsuit was filed, according to the family’s attorneys, Ryan Oxadine and Jim Barnes, and documents provided by the city.
Family of Soheil Mojarrad
Settlement amount: $1.25 million
Date of incident: April 20, 2019
Date of settlement: August 2023
Mojarrad, who suffered from mental health issues, took a phone plugged into a wall at a Sheetz, court records say.
Officer Brett Edwards pursued and confronted Mojarrad, 30. Edwards shot Mojarrad multiple times claiming he feared for his life when Mojarrad advanced toward him with a folding knife while screaming obscenities, the city argued in court filings. Edwards violated police policy when he didn’t turn on his body-camera, city officials said, but he didn’t use excessive force.
The lawsuit contends Mojarrad didn’t have a knife in his hand and didn’t advance on Edwards. Edwards should have done more to de-escalate the situation, the lawsuit claimed.
Fredrick Darnell Hall
Settlement amount: $60,000
Date of incident: Aug. 17, 2018
Date of settlement: August 2022
Fredrick Darnell Hall, whose family said he had a history of mental health issues and hospitalization, says he was beaten and wrongly arrested by officers while he was having a heat stroke after his car broke down.
Hall became “physically violent” with officers and “reasonable and lawful force” was used to prevent Hall from hurting officers or himself, city attorneys wrote in court documents.
Carlos Barnes
Settlement amount: $13,500
Date of incident: May 13, 2014
Date of settlement: June 2014
Barnes, 37, was treated for multiple scalp lacerations after being struck on the head several times while officers were attempting to arrest him, according to a letter sent to city officials by Barnes’ attorney, Chad E. Axford, which was provided by the city as part of a public information request.
The News & Observer couldn’t find a lawsuit related to the settlement.
Lynwood Earl Artis
Settlement amount: $35,000
Date of incident: Sept. 11, 2010
Date of settlement: 2016
Around 8:45 p.m., Officer James Rollins arrested Artis, who was accused of drinking a beer at a bus stop in the Glenwood South district. Artis denied the beer was his, the lawsuit says.
During the arrest, Rollins kicked Artis to the ground, fracturing his left leg in two places and causing permanent disfigurement, the lawsuit states.
Artis was intoxicated, the city argued in court documents, became confrontational and resisted arrest.
After spending a night at the jail in pain, Artis was taken to the hospital, where he had two surgeries embedding pins in his upper and lower legs, Artis contends in the lawsuit.
The district attorney dismissed the charges against Artis after Rollins didn’t show up for court multiple times and said he didn’t recall the incident, the lawsuit states.
Wrongful arrests
Kevin Hines and family
Settlement amount: $170,000
Incident date: May 16, 2013
Settlement date: October 2017
Kevin Hines was picking up his two children from Enloe High School on senior prank day and a water balloon fight unfolded, according to a lawsuit filed in 2016.
Hines saw Raleigh Sgt. R. Warner push a Black student to the ground, and Hines went to the principal’s office to complain, the lawsuit says. It contends:
Warner refused to allow Hines to speak to the principal and asked Hines to leave. Warner convinced Hines to leave promising that the officer’s supervisor was on his way.
When Hines walked out, he was arrested by two officers.
Warner and the city indicated in court documents that Hines refused to leave a school building and that he resisted arrest.
In September 2013, the police responded to Hines’ complaint, saying the evidence supports that Hines was arrested without probable cause, according to the lawsuit.
Nyee’ya Williams
Settlement amount: $37,500
Date of incident: June 18, 2020
Date of settlement: May 2022
Williams argued that Raleigh police violated her civil rights when an officer wrongfully arrested her at a downtown Black Lives Matter protest. The city agreed to a settlement with Williams, who was 17 years old when arrested by officers, before a lawsuit was filed.
Todd Wittlief
Settlement amount: $25,000
Date of incident: April 4, 2019
Date of settlement: March 15, 2021
Wittlief’s civil rights were violated by Raleigh police in connection with a financial fraud investigation and arrest, the settlement agreement states.
A letter from Raleigh police to Wittlief said that police agreed that the officer violated the police ethics policy, but didn’t give any other information. A related lawsuit indicates the police investigation followed when Wittlief tried to ensure the validity of a check written to him by a man buying Wittlief’s deceased father’s medical equipment off Craigslist.
13 men falsely charged, two family members
Settlement amount: $2 million
Date of incidents: Dec. 1, 2019-May 21, 2020
Date of settlement: September 2021
Thirteen men spent a collective 2 1/2 years behind bars before their charges were dismissed. They lost jobs and missed cancer treatments and time with their children, including a newborn, the lawsuit states.
This and a subsequent lawsuit accuse fired Raleigh drug detective Omar Abdullah, a confidential informant and other police officers of collaborating to send innocent men to prison by planting fake drugs.
Abdullah was eventually fired and convicted of a felony obstruction of justice charge in 2023.
Two youth and one adult
Settlement amount: $135,000
Date of incident: Jan. 2, 2020
Date of settlement: February 2023
The money was paid to two youths and one woman related to one of the men Abdullah had arrested. The settlement mentions the man’s arrest, prosecution and alleged seizure of minor children and alleged use of force. The News & Observer isn’t naming the adults in an effort to conceal the children’s identity.
Derrick John Erb
Settlement amount: $22,500
Date of incident: Oct. 3, 2015
Date of settlement: Oct. 18, 2019
Derrick John Erb was falsely arrested and charged with swiping Michael Kors watches at Bailey’s Fine Jewelry at Cameron Village. Nichole MacBride, a Raleigh police officer working at Bailey’s, obtained an arrest warrant for Erb by providing incomplete and misleading information to court officials, the complaint states.
When other people confessed to stealing the watches, Erb’s charges were dismissed.
MacBride’s actions were “based on the reasonable, but mistaken, belief that Erb was involved with the thefts from Bailey’s,” the city said in court documents.
Isaac Horton IV and Omeze Nwankwo
Settlement amount: $50,000
Incident date: July 11, 2014
Settlement date: Nov. 7, 2016
Police violated Isaac Horton IV and Omeze Nwankwo’s constitutional rights when officers harassed and wrongly arrested them at Noir nightclub, according to a lawsuit filed in 2015.
An officer asked the men to leave after someone at the business requested it, city attorneys wrote in court documents. Horton said officers mistook him and Nwankwo for two inebriated brothers that went out the back.
Police arrested Nwankwo when he objected to an officer telling Horton to leave, the lawsuit states. Horton was arrested while he took a video of police wrongly arresting Nwankwo, the lawsuit states.
Improper search, entering property
Yolonda Irving and 10 others
Settlement amount: $350,000
Date of incident: May 21, 2020
Date of settlement: June 2023
This 2022 lawsuit is the second the city settled involving fired police detective Omar Abdullah and discredited police informant Dennis Williams. It involves three families who say Raleigh police entered two apartments unannounced wearing tactical gear, pointing assault rifles at and detaining innocent women and children as young as 12, including a partially paralyzed youth.
Raleigh police contend that they had the wrong apartment and stopped using the confidential informant the day after the search.
Annette Jones
Settlement amount: $3,454
Date of incident: Nov. 16, 2016
Settlement date: Dec. 23, 2016
Jones and a small dog she had just adopted were outside in her yard early in the morning when a police K-9 who was searching for a suspect in the area came in the yard and attacked the small dog and bit Jones, Jones said. The city agreed to pay for medical bills for the dog after she called the city, according to Jones and city documents.
Charles Frails
Settlement amount: $117,000
Date of incident: April 2, 2014
Date of settlement: July 15, 2016
Frails contends police violated his constitutional rights by forcing him to do a strip search after they didn’t find drugs on him during previous searches that followed an unjustified traffic stop.
Officers pulled him and another man over, contending the license plate in the car they were driving was obstructed, and said they smelled marijuana and found a small amount of marijuana in the driver’s sock.
After Frails complained, police sent Frails a letter saying evidence indicated that the officers violated departmental rules related to searches and seizures and to stops and frisks.
David Timothy Faircloth
Settlement amount: $7,500
Date of incident: May 4, 2010
Date of settlement: May 1, 2012
Officers improperly seized the gun of David Timothy Faircloth after they falsely charged him with failing to disclose a concealed carry permit, the lawsuit contends. After the charges were dismissed, the department refused to return the gun to him, the lawsuit contends.
In court documents, city officials contended that Faircloth didn’t immediately disclose the concealed carry permit despite the fact that he had a loaded pistol in an unfastened holster in the truck. After the charges were dismissed, police said they would release the gun after Faircloth completed a firearm release form and background check, along with getting a court order or the consent of the officer who put the pistol in evidence.
Virginia Bridges covers criminal justice in the Triangle and across North Carolina for The News & Observer. Her work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The N&O maintains full editorial control of its journalism.
