Charlotte City Council member Braxton Winston's campaign says "he is now in a legal process" after he was arrested and charged with failure to disperse upon command at a protest outside a west Charlotte police station precinct Friday night.
A news release issued Saturday said Winston went to the protest "in his official capacity as City Council Member At Large" in "an attempt to de-escalate the tensions between the police and citizens of Charlotte." He was in communication with CMPD, media, community leaders and protesters during his time.
In an aerial-view video accompanying the release, Winston is shown standing in the middle of a street between a line of CMPD officers and a handful of protesters before officers swarm Winston. Winston is then pulled behind the line of dozens of officers by about five, who conceal him from view.
He was arrested and held on a $1,000 bond. He was released at 1 a.m. Saturday.
"We are confident that the whole truth will be presented and Braxton will be exonerated of any wrongdoing," the campaign wrote.
Charlotte photographer Logan Cyrus captured the moment when Winston was arrested.
Here’s the moment CMPD took @BraxtonWinston in to custody. pic.twitter.com/T8wX6utnNB
— Logan Cyrus (@logancyrus) May 30, 2020
Winston first reached prominence in the community when he was a visible protester during the 2016 Keith Lamont Scott police shooting protests in uptown Charlotte. A photo of him standing shirtless with his left fist raised in front of a line of CMPD officers went viral.
Winston was elected to the Charlotte City Council in 2017.
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