The Charlotte City Council met in closed session last week to discuss how to respond to threatening text messages sent by former City Council member Tariq Bokhari to police chief Johnny Jennings last year, during a dispute over whether officers should be allowed to wear outer-carrier vests.
The text messages were first reported by WFAE six months ago. WSOC first reported on the closed session and settlement talks last week.
Jennings has not filed a lawsuit against the city, but it's possible council members could offer him some financial settlement regardless. Jennings has reportedly said the disclosure of the text messages damaged his reputation and could have cost him future opportunities after he retired, according to people familiar with the issue.
Council members have discussed paying Jennings as much as $300,000, though it's unclear if that will happen. Charlotte City Council is scheduled to meet Monday night, including a closed session.
Last year, Bokhari wanted Jennings to allow officers to wear outer-carrier vests that could provide them more protection. Bokhari had pushed for the vests for roughly two years, but he ramped up his pressure campaign on the chief after a wanted man shot eight law enforcement officers who were trying to serve a warrant on him in east Charlotte. Four were killed, including one CMPD officer, in the deadliest day in Charlotte’s law enforcement history.
The vests — which feature pockets for ammunition and other gear, similar to soldiers’ battle dress — were already used by units like SWAT and vice.
But Jennings said at the time the vests wouldn’t necessarily offer any additional protection, noting that three of the officers killed in April had been wearing them. He also said it was a “military-style appearance that contradicts the community-oriented policing philosophy I have championed for years.”
That prompted Bokhari to increase public and private pressure against the chief, culminating in a series of private text messages in which Bokhari told Jennings he would be demanding his resignation and "cripple his legacy."
In early July 2024, he texted Jennings that the chief had “made a terrible error in judgment, my friend. I hate what comes next.”
He continued: “As your friend, I want you to know what happens next. I’ll be demanding your resignation starting Monday. I’ll be hammering you from the press, the private sector, the foundations, the general assembly, congress and several high-profile national organizations.”
He said he would put maximum pressure on the city manager to fire Jennings.
Bokhari acknowledged he might not win, but wrote: “I will not stop and it will cripple your legacy you’ve worked so hard for. Just a final bit of food for thought. You have 36 hours to call it all off by compromising in some small way. Otherwise it’s in God’s hands.”
In Charlotte’s form of government, council members are generally supposed to voice their concerns through the city manager, to whom nearly all city employees report. Council members only directly vote to hire or fire the city manager, city attorney and city clerk. And council members aren’t supposed to threaten to destroy an employee’s reputation.
At the time of WFAE’s initial story, city manager Marcus Jones said in a statement he disapproved of what Bokhari had written. But Mayor Vi Lyles did not address it in a public forum, and City Council members did not consider a vote to censure Bokhari — which is a formal, public rebuke.
The lack of response upset Jennings, according to people familiar with the matter.
Jennings and the city began negotiating a possible financial settlement weeks ago. Council members first discussed the issue during a closed session last week. That was first reported by WSOC.
Bokhari is no longer a City Council member. He resigned last month to take a high-level job at the Federal Transit Administration in the Trump administration.
Corine Mack with the Charlotte NAACP had made a public records request for the text messages in the fall of 2024. She later filed an ethics complaint against Bokhari. But City Attorney Anthony Fox dismissed it in early 2025.
