The family of a Charlotte man fatally shot by an off-duty Pineville police officer has filed a civil lawsuit against the Town of Pineville and two officers involved in the incident.
The lawsuit, filed in Mecklenburg County Superior Court, stems from the May 14, 2024 shooting death of 46-year-old Dennis Alexander Bodden.
Bodden was an attorney who provided legal aid to people with mental illness, and had volunteered on a suicide prevention hotline the night before his death, according to the complaint. His family said he had begun to experience bipolar schizophrenia during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was diagnosed in 2021.
Events leading to the shooting
According to the complaint, Bodden was experiencing a mental episode when Sergeant Adam Daniel Roberts, a Pineville police officer working off-duty as a security guard, confronted him in the parking lot of a south Charlotte Food Lion on Johnston Road following a reported shoplifting incident.
Body camera footage released by police shows Roberts following Bodden on foot and repeatedly ordering him stop as Bodden continued walking down a sidewalk and across Johnston Road.
The footage showed Roberts deploying a Taser on Bodden in the road's median, after which the two struggled on the ground. During the encounter, Bodden bit Roberts on his arm.
Bodden then left the median and walked toward the Berkshire Place apartments, where his family said he lived. There, he was again confronted by Roberts and another Pineville police officer, Randall Down, who had arrived at the scene.
Moments later, a second struggle occurred. According to the lawsuit and body camera footage, Roberts pushed Bodden on his shoulder, and Bodden began punching Roberts with closed fists. Bodden then charged at Down and grabbed his radio, as Down unsuccessfully fired his Taser.
During the struggle, Roberts drew his firearm. According to the district attorney, police footage shows Bodden reaching for the weapon before Roberts fires three times, killing Bodden.
Mecklenburg County District Attorney Spencer Merriweather declined to bring criminal charges against Roberts, though he described the shooting as “especially jarring."
Lawsuit and legal response
The lawsuit alleges that Roberts and Officer Randall Down violated Pineville Police Department use-of-force policies and Bodden’s constitutional rights. It seeks more than $10 million in damages.
Bodden was an attorney, a graduate of Rutgers University and Cardozo School of Law, and a mental health advocate. After moving to North Carolina, he volunteered as a crisis counselor for the Crisis Text Line. The lawsuit notes that Bodden had volunteered on a suicide prevention hotline the night before his death.
“This lawsuit is about honoring his humanity, telling the truth about what happened, and making sure no other family has to endure the same preventable loss,” said Micheal L. Littlejohn Jr., an attorney representing Bodden’s estate, in a statement.
A spokesperson for the town of Pineville declined to comment on the litigation. The Pineville Police Department also declined to comment. A police department spokesperson said Roberts and Brown remained employed by the department.
Roberts was previously cleared of shooting and injuring a Black man, Timothy Caraway, in Pineville in 2020.
