Police make presence known in Uptown

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Charlotte-Mecklenburg police were busy in Uptown for the Fourth of July celebrations, but they said it was a relatively safe night with no major incidents.

Police, intent on preventing a repeat performance of the Fourth of July melee that broke out last year, turned out by the hundreds in Uptown Charlotte.

Here, there and pretty much everywhere you looked Wednesday the police presence was unmistakable. The purpose was ensuring public safety and preventing another embarrassment.

Last year a melee broke out which included fights and fireworks thrown at crowds of people. It was one of the first things Eddie Valentine saw when he moved here last summer.

"We couldn't believe it, we just came to the city and then we hear, you know, the mayhem that went downtown. We were shocked, we didn't think that kind of thing happened here,” Valentine said.

Officers made at 143 arrests, mostly for disorderly conduct and drug possession.

Police picked up 27 people for disorderly conduct, many of which were alcohol related or charges for impeding traffic. Officers also arrested 13 people for drug violations, most of which were possession charges.

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Police said some major arrests were made after what started as minor infractions. For example, one man was arrested for impeding traffic, then discovered to have a gun in his pants.

Nine people were also stopped for carrying concealed weapons including one person with an AK-47 police found during a minor traffic stop.

Officers also enforced a curfew for teens under the age of 16 who were out past 11 p.m. without adult supervision. Police said they picked up 14 juveniles, including at least six for curfew violations. Six parents were also cited for aiding and abetting their children for violating curfew, but none of those parents were arrested.

Altogether, hundreds of police officers and a civil emergency unit were spread around, looking for rowdy crowds and curfew violators.

Josh Crawford and Terez Dennis were out around 9:30 p.m. waiting to be picked up by adults. Crawford is 14 and Dennis is 13-years-old.

“We have to be home at a certain time,” they said.

Heading home and seeing the police presence was no problem for them.

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"They're not playing around,” Dennis said. “It gets rowdy kind of down here if the cops aren't out. It keeps it more organized,” Crawford said.

"When you are 16, I think you should be in the house at a certain time, you should have a curfew anyway,” said Javonda Kelley, who was watching fireworks.

She thought the show of force was a bit too much. Chris Villalobos said neither last year's melee nor the potential for trouble this year affected his decision to watch fireworks.

"Not really, I mean we feel that Charlotte is pretty secure. So no, we don't have a problem with that,” he said.

Overall, police said the night went quite well.

"Officers were able to respond to those small flare-ups and deal with them quickly and effectively. We were able to get control of those situations rather quickly and keep them from spreading," said Officer Hassan Peterson, CMPD.

Police credit their success to their partnership with area agencies including the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office and Department of Social Services.

(WCNC's Tony Burbeck and Frances Kuo contributed information used in this report.)