Video raises questions after protester’s felony charge is dropped

CHARLOTTE — Federal prosecutors dropped a felony assault charge against a Charlotte woman after video surfaced that appears to contradict officers’ claims about her actions during a protest at a Homeland Security building earlier this month.

Heather Morrow said she went to the Homeland Security building in southwest Charlotte earlier this month to protest Border Patrol’s roundups during Operation Charlotte’s Web.

She and others were blocking deportation officers from getting in the parking lot, according to the original affidavit.

“They threatened us with mace,” Morrow said.

And a man was arrested.

“In the moment was like, ‘Woah! Way too rough. Like this is unnecessary,’” Morrow said.

Morrow then attempted “to jump on the back” of another officer “by placing both of her hands” on the officer’s “shoulders while she had one foot off the ground, according to a deportation officer.

The video seems to contradict that.

“For them to be an arm of the law and commit perjury is very concerning to say the least,” Morrow said.

“I think this is part of a national pattern,” said Xavier de Janon, her defense attorney.

De Janon is now fighting her new charges, which are four misdemeanors filed this week. They include impeding, disrupting and obstructing access and the use of federal property.

“We’re basically catching up with the new theory of the government.,” de Janon said.

Morrow insists she’s innocent.

“It’s just a mockery of the system,” she said.

If convicted, Morrow could spend more than a year in prison and face fines.Sáenz reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office to ask what exactly caused this change of course.They didn’t get back to him.Having covered the courts, Sáenz said it could have just been part of the legal process.Officers find probable cause, prosecutors continue to review it, and then sometimes decide whether to add or take away charges.

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