Five former Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers resigned and a sixth remained suspended following the October 2026 discovery of a years-long text thread containing racist slurs and a competition to pull over Black drivers. Police Chief Estella Patterson requested an FBI civil rights investigation while community groups urged immediate traffic stop reforms.
The text messages came to light during an unrelated North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation probe into former officer Seth Elliott, who was arrested for allegedly misusing automated Flock license plate reader cameras. Investigators examining Elliott’s phone discovered a group chat spanning several years in which officers shared racial slurs, used the N-word, and compared their messages to a clan rally.
Resignations and Disciplinary Actions at CMPD
Police Chief Estella Patterson announced the disciplinary measures during an October 15 news conference, stating that six officers had been cited for termination. Five of those officers subsequently resigned from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department after being suspended without pay on October 9. Their salaries ranged from nearly $76,000 to more than $85,000, according to personnel records released by the department under a public records request.
The department identified the officers as Mateo Juarez, Joseph Kelly, Tredan Maronic, Matthew Osborn, Alexander Larsen, and Jeremiah Todman. All six were hired between 2022 and 2024. While the first five resigned, Todman remained suspended without pay pending a review by the Civil Service Board. Elliott, who resigned in August following his arrest for illegally accessing government computers, brought the total number of investigated officers to seven.
Four of the six officers involved belonged to the same 2024 recruit class. Video records show that Alexander Larsen served as the president of CMPD’s 193rd recruit class. Local reporting noted that the officers may have been involved in more than 300 Mecklenburg County cases, with their names listed under the complainant field in at least 341 cases logged on county online records. Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden, who spent nearly 40 years with the department before becoming sheriff, remarked that the scandal was troubling and noted that other police agencies had called him to inquire about the impact on the agency’s image.
As a Black woman who began my career here in this very department, it is especially painful and disheartening to hear concerns from our community about racism coming from within the ranks of this organization.
Estella Patterson, Police Chief of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department
Federal Investigation and Legal Scrutiny of Past Cases
Chief Patterson requested assistance from federal agencies to examine the possibility of civil rights violations. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina opened inquiries into the matter. Patterson also stated her intention to seek the revocation of the officers’ law-enforcement certificates so they cannot police elsewhere in the state or country.
Defense attorney Tim Emery called for past and present cases involving the officers to be scrutinized and potentially dismissed. Emery pointed to supreme court precedent from 1972 requiring prosecutors to disclose information that calls the credibility of government witnesses into question. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump also weighed in on the allegations, stating that the competition to pull over Black drivers calls into question traffic stops and use-of-force incidents handled by the officers.
The Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office and prosecutors prepared to review potentially affected cases as community leaders raised alarms about institutional culture. Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP President Corine Mack stated that the local department reflects broader national patterns, recalling discussions with former FBI officials regarding white supremacists infiltrating police departments nationwide.
Advocacy Groups Demand Traffic Stop Policy Changes
In response to the scandal, the Second Chance Federation sent an October 16 memo to Chief Patterson urging the department to end traffic stops for non-moving and equipment violations. The group cited data compiled by NC CopWatch from State Bureau of Investigation figures showing that Black drivers accounted for 56.7% of CMPD traffic stops in 2026, despite making up 33.7% of the city’s population.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers reportedly had a text thread competing to pull over the most Black drivers, while using racial slurs in discussions about force against Black residents. More than half a dozen officers have reportedly been recommended for termination or quit.… pic.twitter.com/NIQuA6y3Df
Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP President Corine Mack demanded thorough vetting procedures to evaluate the psychological and ideological fitness of recruits. Mack expressed skepticism that the department’s internal reviews would capture the full scope of the problem, pointing out that the text ring was uncovered only by chance during an investigation into an entirely different offense.
