ROCKINGHAM — Stephen Sings Sr. drove from Charlotte prepared to appear in court Thursday afternoon, but was notified that the case had been continued before he arrived.
Sings was at Raider Stadium attending the Richmond Raider football game against Vance High School in December 2019 when his son, Stephen Kernal Sings, 23, was arrested after a verbal altercation with another individual. Sings sought the arresting officer for an explanation, and was quickly told to put his hands behind his back. This confrontation and the resulting scuffle was all caught on a Facebook livestream which went viral.
A clip of the original livestream can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzQMvhVrzf0
Sings was initially charged with two felony counts of assault inflicting physical injury on a law enforcement officer, five misdemeanor counts of resisting a public officer, three misdemeanor counts of assault on a government official, and one misdemeanor count each of injury to personal property and disorderly conduct. He was placed under an initial $150,000 secure bond at the Richmond County Jail.
Since then, Sings’ case has been continued and multiple times, and an attempt to have the case tried in Charlotte failed. It’s unclear when his new court date is. Sings has recently retained William H. Harding as his attorney after initially being unable to find a local lawyer willing to represent him. Harding could not be reached for comment Thursday.
From the outset, Sings and his supporters have maintained that the charges against him and his son should be dropped and that the officers who were involved in his arrest be fired as soon as possible. Charlotte-based activist John C. Barnett called on the Richmond County court system to stop “playing games” with them by continuing the case further.
“Today we ask that those charges be dismissed and quit playing games,” said Barnett at a press conference in front of the courthouse on Thursday. “We want to send a message to Richmond County … that we need these charges dismissed immediately so that this individual, this brother, can move on with his life.”
The livestream of the incident shows Sings approach Lieutenant Damond Allen from behind and say, “Hey Officer Allen, now can you explain why you locked my son up? What did he do wrong? I want to know.”
“I don’t have anything to say to you,” responded Allen, adding, “This isn’t even open for discussion.”
Sings protests, saying, “This is your duty to talk to me,” at which point Allen hands another deputy his water bottle before reaching for Sings’ arms and ordering him to “put your hands around your back.”
The confrontation then escalated as Sings professed that he did nothing wrong, and at least four other officers wrestled him to the ground.
Allen was placed on administrative leave for two months after the incident and has since been on administrative duty, meaning working only in the office, according to Chief Deputy Mark Gulledge.
The State Bureau of Investigation took over the investigation into the incident in December and the case is apparently ongoing. Sings said that he provided a statement to the SBI months ago but has been unable to get answers on the status of the case.
Sings said at the press conference that the misconduct by sheriff’s deputies was “plain as day.”
“It’s plain as day in that video, you see (Richmond County sheriff’s deputies) out of line — you fire them!” Sings said. “Why are they still there? Why are they still working for the (county)?”
Reach Gavin Stone at 910-817-2673 or gstone@www.yourdailyjournal.com.