It took North Carolina officials seven days to take seriously an allegation that a Fayetteville appeals court judge tried to run down Black Lives Matter protesters even though the city had video of the encounter initially revealed by The Fayetteville Observer. Myah Warren, a 23-year-old activist and member of a Fayetteville-Cumberland Human Relations Commission, told both the local newspaper and The Washington Post she twice tried to press charges against Republican Judge John Tyson after he tried to hit her and other protesters with his SUV on May 7 in the town center, the Market House. Civil officers told her she couldn’t and even lied that Tyson was no longer a judge, but when an investigator reviewed footage of the incident, she received word that she had a case against the well-connected judge, Warren told the newspaper.
“This vehicle circled the market house twice and on the second time veered into activists at approximately 6:28pm!!!” the Fayetteville Activist Movement said in a Facebook post. “He then JUMPED the curb and we approached to get ID info on the car.” Warren said she still had a hard time finding an attorney that would represent her against Tyson. “He’s a well-known racist,” she told The Washington Post.
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Warren cited a murder case in which Tyson wrote a dissent opinion on appeal defending Chad Cameron Copley, a white man who in August 2016 murdered an unarmed Black man after telling 911 dispatchers he was “locked and loaded” and there were "hoodlums" in the area, according to The Associated Press. Responding to the appeal attempt, Judge John Arrowood wrote the majority opinion that Copley, 43, "concealed himself in his darkened garage with a shotgun" and without warning fired his gun, killing 20-year-old Kourey Thomas. Tyson wrote in his dissent obtained by the AP that the trial judge "denied (Copley) of his most fundamental rights to protect and defend himself, his family, and their home."
Seemingly taking a cue from the murderer, Tyson also is accused—although charges against him don’t reflect it—of lying to a 911 dispatcher in the incident involving Warren. The Washington Post identified the judge as the person who called police to report about five to 10 protesters blocking traffic, a claim the city video fails to support. It does however show an SUV allegedly driven by Tyson driving in a lane closed to traffic with the words “BLACK LIVES DO MATTER” painted in the center. The lane was a few steps away from the curb protesters held signs on.
“It would not be appropriate to comment on the matter at this time,” Courie said. “We will proceed with faith in the facts and our system of justice.”
The Fayetteville Activist Movement is calling for the judge to be removed and all of his past decisions to be reconsidered. “The whole situation sucks because I feel as if he’s going to get away with it,” Warren said. “You were driving a state vehicle, you tried to hit protesters and you lied to 911. There’s only so much I can do.”
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The activist organization accused Tyson in a Facebook post of:
“He must be removed from the bench for bias,” activists said in the post. “In the meantime, he must be suspended from all duties and his caseload must be reassigned. All of his past decisions must be reconsidered.”
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The organization also said in another post that the judge “has a history of attempts to intimidate activists in Fayetteville.” “Last year, he hired gunmen to act as his personal goon squad and point weapons at people from windows of his buildings downtown,” activists said in the post. “A year later, and he's taken it upon himself to try and intimidate free citizens from exercising their First Amendment rights.”
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“This vehicle circled the market house twice and on the second time veered into activists at approximately 6:28pm!!!” the Fayetteville Activist Movement said in a Facebook post. “He then JUMPED the curb and we approached to get ID info on the car.” Warren said she still had a hard time finding an attorney that would represent her against Tyson. “He’s a well-known racist,” she told The Washington Post.
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Warren cited a murder case in which Tyson wrote a dissent opinion on appeal defending Chad Cameron Copley, a white man who in August 2016 murdered an unarmed Black man after telling 911 dispatchers he was “locked and loaded” and there were "hoodlums" in the area, according to The Associated Press. Responding to the appeal attempt, Judge John Arrowood wrote the majority opinion that Copley, 43, "concealed himself in his darkened garage with a shotgun" and without warning fired his gun, killing 20-year-old Kourey Thomas. Tyson wrote in his dissent obtained by the AP that the trial judge "denied (Copley) of his most fundamental rights to protect and defend himself, his family, and their home."
Seemingly taking a cue from the murderer, Tyson also is accused—although charges against him don’t reflect it—of lying to a 911 dispatcher in the incident involving Warren. The Washington Post identified the judge as the person who called police to report about five to 10 protesters blocking traffic, a claim the city video fails to support. It does however show an SUV allegedly driven by Tyson driving in a lane closed to traffic with the words “BLACK LIVES DO MATTER” painted in the center. The lane was a few steps away from the curb protesters held signs on.
Fayetteville attorney David Courie Sr. confirmed in an email to the Observer that he and his firm are representing Tyson in what the attorney deemed “the misdemeanor summons brought by an individual, not law enforcement, 7 days after the alleged date of offense.”
“It would not be appropriate to comment on the matter at this time,” Courie said. “We will proceed with faith in the facts and our system of justice.”
The Fayetteville Activist Movement is calling for the judge to be removed and all of his past decisions to be reconsidered. “The whole situation sucks because I feel as if he’s going to get away with it,” Warren said. “You were driving a state vehicle, you tried to hit protesters and you lied to 911. There’s only so much I can do.”
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The activist organization accused Tyson in a Facebook post of:
- dissenting “against the ruling allowing the removal of Winston-Salem's white power monument, citing the Bible;”
- overturning “the murder conviction of a white man who killed a young Black man, saying it was improper for prosecutors to bring up the killer's past racist statements;”
- dissenting “against a decision allowing NC residents to get a domestic violence protective order against a same-sex partner;” and
- allowing a state employee to use the N-word in oral arguments, asking “whether it was possible the employee was just attempting to be historically accurate.”
“He must be removed from the bench for bias,” activists said in the post. “In the meantime, he must be suspended from all duties and his caseload must be reassigned. All of his past decisions must be reconsidered.”
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The organization also said in another post that the judge “has a history of attempts to intimidate activists in Fayetteville.” “Last year, he hired gunmen to act as his personal goon squad and point weapons at people from windows of his buildings downtown,” activists said in the post. “A year later, and he's taken it upon himself to try and intimidate free citizens from exercising their First Amendment rights.”
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