CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Video captured by Charlotte residents shows tense interactions with U.S. Customs and Border Protection as it continues “Operation Charlotte Web” throughout the region.
Shea Watts heard shouting and tires screeching Monday morning as he was working. When he looked outside, he saw Border Patrol agents surrounding a car.
“It was an SUV surrounded by Border Patrol agents,” Watts said. “One agent, in particular, had an assault rifle with the barrel pointed at the person who I couldn’t see at the time saying, ‘Get out of the car or I’m going to break the window.’ Eventually, he tried to smash the window with the barrel end of the assault rifle.”
Two women, who Watts said are U.S. citizens, were in the car at the time. They told him the agents chased them through the Plaza Midwood neighborhood after they allegedly honked their horn to alert people that agents were in the area.
Video from the incident shows an agent using his gun to break the driver’s window. Both women were then handcuffed with zip ties and taken out of the car.
“They weren’t evading arrest because there was a warrant or a due process,” Watts said. “They were just trying to report something for kids that are scared to go to school, for people that are scared to work. They felt like it’s their job as American citizens to look out for other people and their neighbors.”
According to Watts, the women were taken to an FBI building and released later that day. An agent told him they were charged with 18 USC 111, a federal charge for allegedly impeding a federal officer.
Spectrum News 1 has been unable to independently confirm the details of the arrest.
“She’s [the driver] really traumatized,” Watts said. “She was just thankful that neighbors were home and we did what neighbors do, which is just you see something wrong and you try to step in. If you can’t step in, you document, ask questions and try to get as much information as we can.”
On Saturday, a group of Border Patrol agents walked onto Rheba Hamilton’s front lawn to question two workers who were putting Christmas lights up in her yard.
“They were saying, ‘Show me your papers. Are you an American citizen?’ They approached both of them. They got really close, intimidatingly close,” Hamilton said.
The agents left about two minutes later without making an arrest, but Hamilton said it left her and her workers shaken up.
“I know they’re family men,” Hamilton. “They have children. They have wives. I know they’re here illegally, but they’re doing honest work. They’re doing legal work. They’re not hurting anybody. Nobody is damaged by their presence here in my yard putting my Christmas lights up.”
Spectrum News 1 reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for comment on both cases, but they have not yet provided a response.
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