A Charlotte Bojangles worker is turning a viral bus-stop arrest into a federal courtroom fight, claiming officers took him down over a joint he says was completely legal. The lawsuit filed today accuses the city and two Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers of unlawful arrest and excessive force tied to what he describes as a legal THCA cigarette. The complaint seeks unspecified damages and reopens debate over a November 2023 Steele Creek encounter that sparked an internal CMPD review and plenty of public anger.
The suit, brought by Anthony Lee and handled by the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, names the City of Charlotte and two officers as defendants, according to The Charlotte Observer. The filing says Lee and his partner were detained at a bus stop outside a Bojangles in Steele Creek after officers said they smelled marijuana.
How Police Say The Encounter Unfolded
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police say officers were driving past a city-owned bus stop on South Tryon Street near W. Arrowood Road on Nov. 13, 2023, when they caught a whiff of marijuana and stopped to investigate. According to the department, a struggle followed, officers recovered a handgun from a bag and both people at the stop were charged. Body-camera footage and bystander video hit social media soon after, prompting an internal affairs review and a wave of local coverage that largely tracked CMPD’s version of events. WCCB covered the video release and department briefing.
Why THCA Matters
Lee’s legal team says the cigarette at the center of all this was THCA, a hemp-derived product sold legally at retail. They argue officers could not reasonably tell the difference between lawful hemp and illegal marijuana just by looking or sniffing. Experts and prior reporting note that THCA can convert to Delta-9 THC when burned and that routine field observations or standard tests may not cleanly separate the two, which complicates probable-cause calls for officers on the street. WFAE has detailed those testing and policy gaps.
What The Complaint Alleges
The lawsuit says officers brushed off Lee’s explanations about the joint and relied instead on odor and appearance to detain him. It also claims CMPD lab practices and results “fail to distinguish” between illegal Delta-9 THC and legal THCA. The filing points to what it describes as internal guidance dating back to 2021, and argues that smell alone should not be enough to justify an arrest. The Charlotte Observer has outlined those portions of the complaint.
Legal And Community Fallout
Lee’s case is framed as part of a bigger fight over CMPD’s approach to low-level stops and long-running racial disparities in enforcement, drawing on data and studies cited in the filing. The 2023 arrests led to the suspension of at least one officer and sharp public criticism. Prosecutors ultimately declined to pursue the criminal case. Community advocates and the plaintiffs’ lawyers have continued to call for accountability while local outlets chronicled the dropped charges and the department’s response, including the Southern Coalition for Social Justice and coverage by WBTV.
What’s Next
Lee is asking for unspecified damages in federal court, and his attorneys say they also want policy changes in how CMPD handles hemp-derived products and street encounters like this one. The case will now move through standard civil procedures, with a judge setting deadlines for responses, discovery and any future hearings.
