Charlotte settles with man shot by officer while leaving CLT airport parking lot
The city of Charlotte paid a man $120,000 to settle the lawsuit he filed after an officer shot and injured him as he drove away from an airport parking lot.
Xyavier Calliste was in an employee lot at Charlotte Douglas International Airport on a late July 2018 night, and he was not authorized to be there. He drove away when Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Officer Xeng Lor came to the lot, responding to a trespass call.
Lor shot twice as Calliste drove by. He kept driving to the hospital, where he stayed two days, getting treatment for two gunshot wounds to the chest, upper arm and wrist, attorney Micheal L. Littlejohn wrote in the lawsuit.
Calliste was taken from the hospital to the police department, where he was charged with assault against a government officer and first-degree trespassing. Mecklenburg District Attorney Spencer Merriweather’s office dismissed those charges less than six months later citing insufficient evidence, county court records show.
Nearly eight years later, Charlotte City Attorney Andrea Leslie-Fite signed the settlement on March 23. The city recently provided the dollar amount to The Charlotte Observer.
CMPD excessive force reviewed by Fourth Circuit
The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — one of the second-highest courts in the country — has established that shooting at a fleeing car while the officer is no longer in the car’s trajectory is an unconstitutional use of deadly force.
At the time of the shooting, Calliste had a warrant for arrest on a South Carolina domestic violence charge, but Lor didn’t know that. Lor said he shot because he believed Calliste was going to run him over. But body camera video showed — and a federal judge in Charlotte found — that Calliste’s car had already passed by the officer when he fired.
A legal battle took Calliste’s case in front of the Fourth Circuit last year, and the court found that Lor probably used an unconstitutional level of force when he shot as the car drove away.
Fourth Circuit Judge Stephanie Thacker, of West Virginia, revealed during the appellate hearing in May 2025 that CMPD’s internal investigation found Lor used an excessive amount of deadly force. Lor, an officer of 20 years, had to do a two-week ride-along with a training office, a week of remedial training and a month of unpaid leave.
Three appellate judges kicked the case back to Charlotte’s federal court for trial, and it settled on the eve of trial.
The city and CMPD did not respond to requests for comment.
This story was originally published June 5, 2026 at 6:13 AM with the headline "Charlotte settles with man shot by officer while leaving CLT airport parking lot."
