Black Lives Matter protesters file charges against NC judge they say tried to hit them
A Fayetteville activist has pressed assault charges against an N.C. Court of Appeals judge, alleging he tried to hit protesters with his car outside the downtown Market House this month.
Myah Warren filed charges against Judge John Tyson in Cumberland County on Friday. He was charged with assault with a deadly weapon.
Warren said she was holding a Black Lives Matter sign at a downtown Fayetteville demonstration last week. She said she saw a car circle twice, nearly striking her on the second pass.
“It caused me to literally have to jump out of the way to avoid being hit,” she said. “He was going so fast he jumped up on the curb.”
Protesters who had gathered for a weekly memorial for residents killed in police shootings approached the car and shot video, later recognizing the driver, they said, as Tyson.
Video on the Fayetteville Activist Movement Facebook page shows footage of a Ford SUV with what appear to be appeals court license plates and a driver who closely resembles Tyson.
The incident, first reported by the Fayetteville Observer, drew no response from Tyson. He told the newspaper that he called 911 because protesters were in the roadway but would rely on the emergency recordings, which have yet to be released.
Tyson could not be reached by the N&O at home Friday, and a call to his judicial office in Raleigh went unreturned.
Fayetteville police Sgt. Jeremy Glass said the May 7 report has been assigned to a detective and remains under investigation. He could not confirm that Tyson was the driver. Officers responded to a call reporting protesters in the road, and when they arrived, heard more reports that a passing car had tried to hit them.
The Market House has been a spot for regular protests over the past year since George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police in 2000. Those protests have been peaceful, though two men pleaded guilty in November to setting a fire inside the historic building.
Warren said the vehicle traveled inside an inner lane painted with a “Black Lives Do Matter” mural and off-limits to cars. Glass confirmed the inner lane where protesters typically stand is closed to traffic but police received reports they had stepped outside.
After jumping out of the way, Warren said Tyson’s car jumped the curb and remained on a nearby sidewalk for two to five minutes. Some approached it, demanding an explanation and asking if its driver was OK.
“We have about 10 people witnessing the fact that this vehicle just tried to run people on the side of the circle off the road, then he just jumped the curb here,” protester Mario Benevente said on his Facebook Live feed.
Warren said the car drove away and then Tyson appeared on foot, going inside a nearby deli and reporting that protesters were harassing him.
“Honestly, it’s disheartening,” she said.
Tyson began serving his second term on the Court of Appeals in 2014.
