Henry Chapman, an officer with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, was not directly filmed stealing hundreds of dollars in cash from a detainee—he'd apparently turned off his bodycam. But when the suspect accused him of taking and concealing the money, begged other officers to search him, and the money was found stuffed in Chapman's car, plenty of other bodycams were on. Chapman was charged with embezzling $900 and with turning off his bodycam.
Finally, the man convinced the other officers to check Chapman's patrol car. They found what the man said was missing, around $1,000 tucked into a lower compartment on the inside of the door.
"Look, no cap, I'm not even going to touch it, there's blue hundreds right here, it's all blue hundreds right there, behind that receipt," the man said. "Thank you, All that is my money, he didn't have that."
"This is your money?" another officer said.
"Yes, I heard him crumple it up," the man responded. "Thank you, thank you, all that's being recorded, right?"
Admirable, quick reaction from the Charlotte force: they canned their man within hours. But also quick thinking from the detainee. He knew his cash had been filmed by the bodycam of the motorcycle cop who pulled him over before Officer Bastard turned up to take it, then he waited until many more bodycams were present before demanding Officer Bastard be searched.
The department says that in addition to the criminal charge, Chapman sustained two violations for body-worn camera and conformance to laws. On Monday, CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings wrote a statement admonishing Chapman's actions.
Jennings wrote, in part: "The video shows a CMPD police officer committing a crime, stealing money from a person who was in his custody. Adherence to the law is an absolute for police officers. The actions of former Officer Chapman were a contradiction to what we stand for.
