Sheriff says no excessive force used in arrest of man who allegedly refused to wear mask at market in North Carolina

The sheriff of Forsyth County, N.C., said Monday that no excessive force was used in the arrest of a man who allegedly refused to wear a mask at a market over the weekend.

Bobby Kimbrough Jr. said his officers’ detention of Charles Redell Moody, a Black man, at Cooks Flea Market was “not a racial issue” after a one-minute clip of the arrest posted on social media sparked outrage and some demonstrations. 

The sheriff had announced his office was investigating the incident on Sunday after Moody told the Winston-Salem Journal excessive force was used.

The video clip posted on social media shows a sheriff’s deputy struggling to detain Moody. The deputy grabs Moody and asks him to put his hands behind his back before turning him. Moody’s body is hit against the wall several times before others assist in his detention. 

But Kimbrough said the full video showed Moody was asked to leave five times, after attempting to work the ATM and refusing a free face mask. 

“What you didn’t see was the racial slurs that he hurled,” the sheriff said during a press conference. “What you didn’t see was the vulgarity that he said to not only the officer but the people. What you didn’t see is what he told them they could do with their mouth to his genital area.”

Moody told the Winston-Salem Journal on Sunday that he didn’t refuse to wear a mask and hadn’t been asked to leave the flea market. He said he forgot his own face mask and was trying to use the ATM to obtain money to buy one.

He was charged with resisting arrest and trespassing.

“The one thing I want people to know is that I didn’t do anything wrong,” he told the newspaper. “I never ever said I wouldn’t wear a mask. I clearly told the guys who asked that I would buy one as soon as I could get my money out of the ATM.”

In his Sunday statement, Kimbrough had vowed to “come to a resolution” after “reviewing all video of the incident in its entirety.”

The incident comes amid heightened attention on law enforcement after protests broke out across the country over the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes. Floyd’s death has led to increased scrutiny of police treatment of minority populations as demonstrators have called for reform. 

North Carolina requires people to wear face masks in public places amid the coronavirus pandemic.