Family and friends of Daniel Harris held a candlelight vigil last night on the street near his home in northeast Charlotte where the 29-year-old man was killed by a North Carolina State Trooper last Thursday.
Harris’ brother, Sam (right, red shirt) addressed the crowd before asking for a moment of silence. Credit: Ryan Pitkin
The circumstances of Harris’ death are still unclear, but the incident began as an attempted traffic stop for speeding on I-485. Family members say Harris, who is deaf, may not have known the police were following him. It has been reported that the state trooper’s vehicle was involved in some sort of accident before Harris finally stopped on Seven Oaks Drive, where he lived. Police have said there was an “encounter” between Harris and the trooper trying to take him into custody, but haven’t explained any other details.
At last night’s vigil, Daniel’s brother, Sam Harris, spoke about how things could have been different
Credit: Ryan Pitkin
had police known his brother was deaf. He also said there will be a memorial for Daniel at First Baptist Church in Uptown this evening at 5 p.m. The family is raising money to pay for the memorial and cremation expenses on a YouCaring page.
“Any monies left over will be used to set up a foundation in his name to educate and provide law enforcement proper training on how to confront Deaf people,” the family wrote on the page. “Subsequently, we hope to change the DMV registration system by requiring states to set up a ‘DEAF’ alert to appear when law enforcement look up a car’s license plate. With this change, Daniel will be a hero in our Deaf community.”
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Police have arrested a man for the murder of a 20-year-old woman in south Charlotte yesterday morning. Police have charged 23-year-old Jalen Anderson with murder, attempted murder and shooting into an occupied property causing serious injury. The victim, Mary Tarr, was shot in a home on Baybrook Lane and Pineville-Matthews Road at around 3 a.m. yesterday. A second female victim was transported to the hospital with serious injuries, but it’s unclear what condition she is now in.
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Sandy Le
Police yesterday confirmed that a body found in the Cabarrus County woods last Wednesday during the search for Truc Quan “Sandy” Le was, in fact, Le’s body. Police are still searching for Alexandro Castillo and Ahmia Feaster, Le’s coworkers who are believed to be involved in her murder. Castillo and Feaster are believed to have driven Le’s car across the country, dumping it in Phoenix, Arizona, and crossing the border into Mexico.
Ryan Pitkin began his journalism career at Creative Loafing as an intern, later becoming the writer of CL's satirical column, The Blotter, and recently became the News Editor. Other publications he has...
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