Hammond

Crime in Charlotte is reporting that Kendrick Omar Hammond was arrested again! Over the weekend.

This time the charges are arrested for possession of marijuana and driving without a license.

You remember Hammond. He’s the fellow who has been arrested at least 45 times by CMPD on charges as serious as attempted murder. The Mecklenburg County DA’s office has repeatedly pleaded Hammond’s charges down or dismissed them outright. The upshot is that Hammond has spent only 13 months in state prison plus perhaps a few more weeks in local custody.

Here’s what Tara Servatius had to say about Hammond the other day:

As jaded as I am about crime in Charlotte, even I didn’t think that a record like Hammond’s was possible.

As it turns out, I was wrong. Since 1997, Hammond has been arrested over 40 times and racked up 22 felony charges in 17 separate incidents, along with a couple dozen misdemeanor charges in other incidents.

Amazingly, our district attorney’s office dismissed 17 of those 22 felony charges, including four possession of a stolen motor vehicle charges, four robbery with a dangerous weapon charges, two assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill charges and one murder charge.

In just one of these cases, a note was appended to a court file indicating that the charges were dropped for lack of evidence. That may have been the problem in some others, as well, but in all 17? How is that even possible?

It is possible because city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County officials are, at this hour, worrying about second-hand tobacco smoke. Or new arts venues, or NASCAR Halls, or Whitewater Parks, or illegal immigrants hanging drywall — well you get the idea.

And so does Kendrick Omar Hammond.