By David Hodges Published: Oct. 13, 2026 at 5:51 PM EDT|Updated: 4 hours ago CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officers resigned or were cited for termination in connection to a racist text thread, defense attorneys say the officers’ past and present cases should be scrutinized and, in some cases, dismissed. On Monday, Oct. 12, WBTV reported that more than half a dozen Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers either quit or were cited for termination related to a text thread that made disparaging remarks about black people. According to sources, some of the messages were about competing and bragging over arresting and pulling over black residents. WBTV has now learned that six officers were cited for termination, and others alleged to have been involved in the text thread already resigned. According to defense attorneys Brad Smith and Tim Emery, officers who were on the text thread could face credibility questions that would need to be disclosed in any cases where they arrested a defendant or were involved in other ways. “When you’ve got police officers on the force that are playing games and looking to pull people over because of nothing more than the color of their skin, they’re predisposed to believe and to investigate certain crimes that may not be occurring,” Smith told WBTV. In 1972 the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling, now commonly referred to as Giglio, that requires prosecutors to disclose any information that could impeach or challenge the credibility of a police officer or other government witness. Smith said he expects that the DA’s office will disclose information about the text messages and then make a decision about whether to move forward with prosecuting cases involving those officers. Emery believes the DA’s office should consider halting any cases where the officers in question were central to the case. “Their credibility is severely questioned and compromised,” Emery said. “If they’re involved in any type of case in terms of stopping or investigating someone, absolutely, particularly if it’s a black person.” In an email statement, a spokesperson for Mecklenburg County District Attorney Spencer Merriweather did not specifically address the officer text thread but wrote “whenever internal police department processes result in sustained violations against officers, the DA must make an independent decision as to whether the violation amounts to evidence of the witness’s untruthfulness or bias so disqualifying that they may no longer be relied upon as a witness for the State.” Smith also said that as officer-worn body cameras became the norm in police departments, it became less clear what officers were pulling people over for. Smith said that while dash cameras showed the vehicle in front of an officer, those have largely been replaced by body cameras that often only show the dashboard, leaving the officer’s word as the only source of information about why a car was stopped. “The ability to now pull somebody over based on something other than them legitimately maybe committing a traffic offense is something that we were going to be dealing with in courtrooms again,” Smith said. Multiple sources say the text messages were discovered while the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation was investigating Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Seth Elliott for misuse of the Flock network. Elliott is facing a criminal charge after court records show he allegedly used Flock Safety and other technology to help someone involved in a drug investigation, documents revealed. During that investigation, text messages and other data were downloaded from Elliott’s phone and turned over to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police. A further review of those messages showed Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers in a text thread making derogatory statements about black people. #Charlotte #Police #Corruption #Flock #CMPD - @jasonjusticeroberts