CHAPEL HILL -- The police department has cleared five officers of any wrongdoing after a racial profiling complaint this summer.
In a case of mistaken identity, barber Charles Brown, 35, says officers detained him for about 40 minutes late on the night of June 1 because they thought he was 24-year-old Cumun Fearrington, who was wanted for failing to appear in court on a drug charge.
But police officials say he was only detained for 16 minutes while officers confirmed his identity and made sure he wasn't wanted for any crimes. They based that time on the length of radio traffic, though Brown says he was held for about 30 minutes before officers called in his information.
Brown was unavailable for comment Tuesday.
He was walking home from Precise Cutz & Styles, formerly the Tar Heel Barber Shop, at 136 E. Rosemary St. when an officer stopped him a few blocks to the west. He had stayed until about 11:30 that night fixing one of the barber chairs, he says.
Chapel Hill Police Chief Brian Curran has apologized to Brown for the "inconvenience," and Capt. Jeff Clark, who investigated the matter, has recommended in-car cameras and a new policy requiring a written report for every investigative detention.
"Mr. Brown and Mr. Fearrington have very similar facial features," Curran stated in a memo to the Chapel Hill Town Council. "When police officers have the reasonable suspicion necessary to justify an investigative stop, the suspect is not free to walk away, and officers may use reasonable force to prevent the suspect from doing so."
Curran also denied Brown's claim that officers had taunted him. "The evidence supports the fact that Officer [David] Funk attempted to make Mr. Brown feel more at ease," Curran wrote. "The fact that an African-American officer was called to the scene shows that Officer Funk was attempting to defuse the situation."
