North Carolina officer receives 40-hour suspension after using excessive force during woman's arrest

 Internal Affairs investigation found all but three of NC officer's punches were excessive

A police officer who repeatedly punched a Black woman during an arrest in North Carolina last month was suspended Tuesday, as authorities released new video of the encounter, which viewers shared on social media. The comparison footage showed a broader view of what had happened.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings told reporters at a news conference that Officer Vincent Pistone received a 40-hour suspension after an internal affairs investigation found he used excessive force during the Nov. 13 confrontation. The investigation determined that the six other officers involved were justified in their actions.

Recently released body camera and bystander video show different angles and what led to the encounter at a Charlotte bus stop that sparked public outrage. They show that the woman hit an officer in the face and he responded by hitting her in the back and knocking her off her feet.

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Pistone, who was not the officer involved in that initial exchange of blows, is seen in the video hitting the woman repeatedly with a closed fist while four other officers kneel down and hold her down. As this was happening, bystanders yelled at the officers to stop. After a few seconds, the officers stood up and led the woman to a squad SUV with her hands behind her back.

Police previously said Pistone, who responded that day as backup, delivered seven knee strikes and 10 punches to the woman's thigh. Jennings said Tuesday that all but the first three attacks were extreme.

"The woman was struck fourteen times in the leg because her hands were behind her back," the chief said in a statement. "These attacks were not considered justified. If the officer had assessed the three legs after the attacks, he would have seen that they were effective, and that the woman's hands were behind her back."

Jennings said the Pistons will also get additional training. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #9, a professional organization for officers, did not immediately respond to emails and voice messages seeking comment and asking if Pistone had a representative who could speak on his behalf.

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Ahead of the internal investigation, a police spokesman said that Pistone's blows were in line with his training and that his intention was to get the woman to comply with orders by striking the vein in her leg. Police have declined to release information about the officers' race.

When a reporter asked whether the officer who punched the woman in the face was justified in doing so, Jennings said the action was necessary because the officer had been punched twice.

Jennings said, "We're not robots. If there's an expectation that we'll always say and do the right things, I think that's never going to happen."

Police body camera footage released Tuesday shows officers approach the woman and a man as they sat at a bus stop in front of a Bojangles' restaurant. The couple explained they had just gotten off work, and the woman asked what they had done wrong.

An officer said it smelled as if both were smoking marijuana, to which the pair said they were smoking a legal cannabis compound they had purchased from a smoke shop. Marijuana is not legal in North Carolina, but the sale of some types of related products is legal.

Then an officer bent down, grabbed the man's hand and said, "Do me a favor, put your hands behind your back."

The woman approached the officer and demanded to know what he was doing, and another officer grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the bus stop bench, telling her to put her hands behind her back. When he pulled the woman by her arm, her body camera fell on the ground and was facing the sky. The woman can be heard screaming "Why are you touching me? Stop!" And as they struggled out of the camera's view, they could be seen attacking the officer.

Video taken by a bystander standing across the parking lot shows an exchange of punches between the woman and the officer. In it, a bystander can be heard saying, "I'm pretty sure you're not allowed to do that to the police."

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In another video, a crowd of both bystanders and co-workers of the arrest was seen yelling at officers who had gathered around the woman on the sidewalk. "You killed a woman like that. How do you kill a woman like that, brother?" a viewer asked.

In another video, an officer can be seen repeatedly hitting the woman's thigh with a knee and fist as she was asked to put her hands behind her back while lying on the ground. As more officers arrived, the chaotic mix of voices in the background increased. "Stop putting her on her knees, man! Quit it! Quit it!" a bystander shouted as police took the male colleague away.

The man and woman, identified in court documents as a 24-year-old Black woman from Charlotte, were both arrested after the confrontation that day. He was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and charged with assault on a public official. Both were also charged with resisting officers and possession of marijuana. All charges were later dropped.