Lincolnton Hate Crime or Wait Never Mind

You likely saw this headline last week:

6 people hit by driver at Lincolnton Walmart, police say

LINCOLNTON, N.C. — Six people were taken to the hospital after being hit by a car in Lincolnton on Sunday afternoon, according to the Lincolnton Police Department.

Police say around 1:17 p.m., an assault with a vehicle happened at Walmart on North Generals Boulevard in Lincolnton.

Law enforcement says six migrant workers were hit in what they believe was an intentional vehicle assault. All of the workers were taken to the hospital with different injuries, but none appeared to be life-threatening.

Officers say the car is an older model, a mid-size black SUV with a luggage rack, and the driver was described as an older white male.

Well that was last week and the headlines were as you might expect troubling.

In fact across the nation a manhunt was launched to find the MAGA Extremist WHITE Supremist TRUMPER and Illegal migrant hating psychopath.

There was only one small problem the driver's name was Daniel Gonzalez (hint he's not a white guy) and it was an accident.

The liberal press and politicians of course had a nutty that a white guy deliberately drove his SUV into a group of migrant farm workers, injuring six of them outside a Lincolnton Walmart over the weekend. The story was covered by everyone from the New York Times to People magazine. 

What you haven't seen is a lot of coverage since because:

That initial narrative changed in just a few short hours last Monday. 

On Sunday, the day of the incident, Lincolnton police said in a statement the SUV turning into the group of men on a tree-lined median “appears to be an intentional assault with a vehicle.” 

And on Monday the Carolina Migrant Network put out a statement saying, “We are outraged by the hate crime that occurred in Lincolnton... The event comes as no surprise as we have repeatedly seen these incidents at national and state level.” 

But shortly before 6 p.m. Monday, 68-year-old Hickory resident Daniel Gonzalez turned himself in to the Lincolnton Police Department, where he was charged with felony hit-and-run.

Family members told officers that Gonzalez informed them earlier Monday he accidentally stepped on the gas when parking at Walmart Sunday afternoon. When he realized he’d hit people, “he panicked and left the scene,” according to a police news release.

Now, after interviewing Gonzalez and his family members, police believe the incident was accidental. Since turning himself in Gonzalez has posted his $50,000 bond and is no longer in jail. 

You'd think liberals would learn:

Back in May a driver plowed through a group of migrants — killing eight — as they waited for a bus in Brownsville, Texas. The driver in that case, George Alvarez, 34, has been charged with eight counts of manslaughter and 10 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. 

That too was thought to be a hate crime but Alvarez later explained he was just distracted.

And while unfortunate it too was an accident and not a hate crime..

Thugs and Hoodlums Take Over Romare Bearden Park - Panic and Terror Uptown

According to several sources 47 people, including nearly two dozen who are under the age of 18, were arrested after a riot broke out during a fireworks show in Uptown on July 4.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, said while the fireworks show was happening at Truist Field, a large group began to disrupt the otherwise peaceful event.

Police said 47 people were arrested or cited. 17 were juveniles, the youngest of whom was 13 and oldest was 17. The other 15 people were adults.

CMPD officers seized four firearms in the process.

The charges against the suspects included the following:

Affray

Carrying a concealed weapon

Resisting a public officer

Assault on a government official

Disorderly conduct

Possession of a firearm on city property

Possession of a pyrotechnic

Failure to disperse.

Police said they additionally cited the parents or guardians of 15 of the juveniles. They were charged by citation for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Police said though no one attending the Fourth of July event was hurt, two CMPD officers had minor injuries as a result.

CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings said the disruption appeared to have been planned.

“That’s not who Charlotte is and that’s not who we represent,” Jennings said.

“I’m proud of the response that we had within the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department,” Jennings added.

When asked what he thinks about people who are scared to come into the city for large events, Jennings said his department is working to change that.

“We have a beautiful Uptown area. We have amazing events, and we have thousands of people every single year that come and enjoy festivities that we put on within within our city,” he said. “So I will say that perception is reality, because if they don’t feel safe, then that means they’re not going to take advantage of some of the great events that we do have. We want to try to reverse that in for the majority.”

Jennings also shared a statement on Twitter about the incident.

“In regards to the July 4th disruptions in Uptown last night, CMPD was prepared and properly staffed with numerous assets and personnel dedicated to this event. These men and women performed admirably under sometimes tense and challenging circumstances focusing on safety, de-escalation, and enforcement of the law.”

Cedar's Take:

In the past three or four times a year my family will book a suite at Truist Field for a Knights Baseball game. The price as a group isn't bad and the staff is awesome.

The Knights rep contacted us several weeks ago about using one of the 1st base suites for the July Fourth event. Thankfully we decided that Uptown had just turned into a shitshow after dark and so why risk it. Sunday afternoon games we'll still go. Same with Panther's Club section seats. But games at night no thanks.

We shitcanned Hornets games and gave up some awesome table seats years ago for the same reason.

I've been to Truist Field for a Braves Game and can tell you there is a solid 3 mile perimeter around the place. Not a thug or hood rat in sight. Wall to Wall Law Enforcement and they transport anyone who is not moving to or from the gates. 

Stop Complaining About CMPD

Nothing grinds my gears more than the endless whining about CMPD Officers.

I get it you called and it took CMPD 40 mins to respond to your traffic accident in the Walmart parking lot. 

Or the bike nerds who are always complaining about a CMPD Ford Explorer parked in the bike lane Uptown. As if there is some mythical Kraken that prevents cyclists from going around?

The endless crying about speed enforcement and the claim about quotas and the department needing more revenue.

Not to mention the really bizarre stuff that shows up on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram every night.

So, yesterday @Summer_McAlpine aka "Motivum" on Twitter had a nutty over a couple of CMPD Officers:

"Tonight, around 8:30 pm 2 CMPD officers who were sitting at a construction site on W Rocky River Rd. went from 0-60 mph in the matter of seconds with no lights or sirens. In an area where there are pedestrian cross-walks and children at play, that should be absolutely mandatory!"

Summer continues:

"The story gets better. My boyfriend and I were taking a walk and put our hands up in confusion like so (🤷🏻‍♀️) because it literally looked as if the 2 cops were racing. There was a (another) couple walking not too far behind us that responded the same after first cop flew by...

The second cop who took off seconds after the first slammed on his brakes and proceeded to roll down the window and yell with attitude that they had a 911 call - which I find interesting because don’t you think if there’s a dire 911 call that you’d… 

1. Turn on your lights and sirens to alert people and cars in the surrounding area that you’re coming through and 

2. Maybe not take the extra time to stop and be an asshole to people walking on the sidewalk. 

Law-enforcement entitlement at its finest."

OK I understand couple of CMPD Officers were having a little down time or maybe even talking over the latest B&E around the corner and for whatever reason they decided to move out in a hurry.

Summer has some certainly valid points - but lights and siren are not mandatory for fast starts and in many cases either optional or avoided for a reason. 

I have too many family members and friends with CMPD to go into the details and reasons for not lighting up the neighborhood. Bacilly I'm not busting a red light so don't mind me.

However, the perception of speed from a driver vs pedestrian point of view offers a huge difference. If you're walking close to the road 35 looks like 70.

I drive crazy slow in my neighborhood when I see people walking because I understand this fact. Plus I've spent much of my life going better than 250 knots in the air and still for some reason 18 knots in an 80 foot motor yacht seems like I'm living on the edge.

That said my grandfather once told me that if I wanted my adult neighbors to respect me more than my fellow teenagers, I'd drive through the neighborhood with the radio down low and the speed lower. Yep it works like that.

But Summer if you are in a habit of throwing up your hands whenever you get confused I’m not sure if any explanation they’d offer will appease you. Don't be tossing up your hands a CMPD Officers that's not respectful and it looks like you're flipping them off. 

Finally the boots on the street are all we have and CMPD Boots are down by crazy numbers how about cutting the uniforms some slack?

Another Young Homicide Victim

CMPD says a 12-year-old boy died after being shot at a north Charlotte home Thursday night

Ahmad Wrighten’s death is being investigated as a homicide, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. 

Anthony Rashad Wigfall, 34, and Demetria Robinson, 32, were arrested and charged with murder, CMPD said. Police said the boy had “sustained apparent trauma” when paramedics responded to a home in the 5600 block of Sunwalk Court at about 11:30 p.m. 

They took him from the residential neighborhood off Statesville Road to Atrium Health hospital, where he died, police said. 

Emergency dispatch radio obtained via Broadcastify revealed officers were called to the scene at about 11:30 p.m. after someone “shot an 11-year-old.” CMPD confirmed police were responding to an assault with a deadly weapon call for service and later said the victim was 12.

Charloot's Got A Lot Of Shootings

Once again a person has been shot in uptown during the small hours of the morning.

According to CMPD this was the fifth uptown shooting in past two months.

Witnesses said they heard up to five gunshots, then saw a man get shot in the back at about 4 a.m., according to a local television news station.

The shooting happened on North College Street near Sixth Street, in an area with hotels, restaurants and nightclubs. 

Paramedics said the victim had life-threatening injuries. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has not publicly identified a victim or suspect in this case. 

Earlier this month, officers found a man shot in a parking lot near the Spectrum Center — a couple blocks over from Thursday’s shooting. 

He died at the hospital more than a week later. Police have charged a suspect with murder, intent to kill inflicting serious injury, and discharging a firearm in the city limits.

Another man was shot in the leg near the VUE apartments on West Fifth Street in uptown at about 7:30 a.m. on June 5.  

Another man was shot and killed in uptown near Truist Field in late May. 

Officers chased the suspect to Charlotte Douglas International Airport, where police said he was arrested and charged with 1st-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. 

In April, two people were injured after a mid-day shooting in uptown’s Romare Bearden Park. Police quickly detained a suspect. 

As of May 31, CMPD had recorded a total of 31 homicides in Charlotte this year.

Sure takes the bang out of going Uptown in Charloot.

Charlotte Mayor Pro Tem Winston Claims 20 Somethings Our Nation's Founding Fathers

Cedar Posts is thrilled to see Charlotte's Mayor Pro-Tem Braxton Winston embracing our Colonial past and history. 

Sadly it seems that math and history are not required proficiencies at his alma mater Davidson College.

Winston's tweet which is clearly pandering to the new Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton (who happens to be 25) claims that "the founders of our nation were mostly 20-30 somethings". 

In reality - only South Carolina’s Lynch and Rutledge were in their 20s and while Jefferson who drafted the document was just 33 more than 1/2 of those signing the Declaration of Independence were 40 years old or older.

Funny things happen when a theater grip like Winston, embraces history since the "mostly 20-30 somethings" exclude Franklin who was 70, Hopkins 69, Lewis 63, and Sherman 55, which made them by 1776 standards old and well past the average life expectancy of 35.

Samuel Adams of the beer fame was 54, John Adams, 40 as was John Hancock.

Of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence 37 were 40 or older and 17 were 50 or older. The complete list of these patriots is here. 

Winston never one to accurately understand facts or figures might want to ask a couple of old (over 40) democrats for advice before tweeting about the value of "young voices" and miligning older Tar Heel voters and our nation's founding "fathers".

Also: Before someone says what about George Washington? No he did not sign the Declaration of Indepence. I'm always surprised at the number of people who assume he did. The truth his George was with his "well armed militia" in New York ready to kick some Red Coat butt!

Charlotte's Gun Problem

According to the local paper approximately 1 in 5 of Charlotte’s shooting victims were children, police statistics from the first half of the year show. 

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department announced shooting statistics on Friday as part of National Gun Violence Awareness Day. These statistics paint a grim picture, but are still better than last year’s, according to officials. 

In the first six months of 2023, there have been 2,359 victims of firearm-related crime in Charlotte, according to CMPD. This number is down approximately 4% from the same period last year. 

These shootings killed 27 people, including three children, according to CMPD. Another 426 juveniles were victims of a shooting and 90 juveniles were suspects in shootings. In the first half of last year, 482 juveniles were shooting victims and 118 were suspects.

And the local paper goes further:

A series of stories this year found that shootings involving kids and teens are on the rise over the past few years and have a devastating impact on families and communities. As of 2020, shootings surpassed car accidents as the the leading cause of death in children under 18 in the U.S., according to a CNN analysis of CDC data. 

Curbing these shootings is CMPD’s top priority, Chief Johnny Jennings said Friday. “There is no one who is unaffected by the public health crisis that is gun violence,” Jennings said. “Victims result from every pull of the trigger in our city. 

We need community involvement from every corner and from every walk of life, for the good of Charlotte.”

There were 342 shootings into homes, cars and other occupied property this year, according to CMPD. 

This includes the shooting into a home that seriously injured an 8-year-old girl in April. A total of 1,392 guns have been seized as evidence in these shootings and other Charlotte crimes, and 679 guns have been reported stolen, according to the data. There is no acceptable level of gun violence, CMPD officials say.

Cedar's Take: CMPD Press Release from which much of the local paper's story was produced is located here and opens in a new tab or window.

What the local paper and the CMPD press release doesn't say is that everyone of these homicide victims are African American or hispanic (2) with the expcetion of Jaxon Zane Truitt, age 3 

Jaxon Zane Truitt

Those arrested are almost always African American. In nearly every drive by shooting the shooter and the targeted victim were African American.

Despite the endless anti gun hysterics, the dramatic ortations of Joe Biden and others no one is willing to address the fact that the African American Community has become a culture of violence embracing criminality and gun play. 

Until we address the catch and release liberal policies implemented by Mecklenburg County's chief judge and increase the penalties on illegal firearm possession and begin to incarcerate violent offenders on the first violent crime conviction this problem will continue to be an accepted way of life and it will just get worse.