A 32-year-old Huntersville woman was arrested last month on her second DWI and child abuse case in just over a year, after police say she failed to stop for emergency lights, refused all testing, and had her child riding unsecured in the vehicle once again. Tajhzna Johnson was taken into custody on July 23 following a traffic stop that began when a police sergeant spotted her vehicle stopped on the shoulder of a Huntersville roadway.
According to Charlotte Alerts News, the sergeant activated emergency lights to stop Johnson, but her vehicle instead rapidly accelerated in a 35 mph zone before entering US 21 northbound. Officers say the vehicle failed to heed the police blue lights and siren, crossed into the grassy shoulder twice and left its lane of travel twice, kicking up dust before finally stopping roughly half a mile later.
Officer Cadwallader was on the scene when the vehicle stopped and reported observing an unsecured child roaming inside the vehicle, according to the outlet's account. The officer also detected a strong, heavy and consistent odor of alcoholic beverage coming from Johnson, who reportedly had heavily slurred speech and quickly became increasingly belligerent, screaming at officers and using abusive language during the encounter, per the same report.
Johnson Refused Every Test Offered
Johnson told officers she had previously been drinking wine, the outlet reports, but she refused all roadside testing and disregarded police documentation requests. She was transported to the Huntersville Police Department for a breath test but refused to provide a breathalyzer sample there as well, according to Charlotte Alerts News, and was described as unable to control her emotional state throughout the encounter. She was ultimately arrested and charged with DWI and child abuse.
Johnson's refusal to submit to a chemical breath test carries consequences separate from any criminal case. Under North Carolina's implied consent law, willfully refusing a breath test triggers an immediate 30-day civil license revocation and an automatic 12-month administrative suspension from the DMV, according to the Powers Law Firm — a penalty that applies regardless of what happens in court.
A Nearly Identical Arrest a Year Earlier
This is the second time in roughly a year that Johnson has been arrested on DWI and child abuse charges with the same child in the vehicle, per Charlotte Alerts News. In her prior arrest on June 30, 2025, officers responding to a check-the-welfare call found Johnson unconscious behind the wheel at midnight at the intersection of Statesville Road and Gilead Road in Huntersville, with her 3-year-old son unrestrained in the back seat, the outlet previously reported. That stop turned up an open, nearly empty box of wine and a bottle of tequila in the vehicle, and Johnson's blood alcohol concentration measured 0.16 — twice the legal limit — according to the outlet, which also reported she was accused of drinking shots of tequila before that earlier incident.
In connection with the 2025 arrest, Johnson was also cited for driving while her license was revoked, operating a vehicle without liability insurance, and violating child restraint laws, on top of the DWI and misdemeanor child abuse charges, the outlet reported at the time.
What a Child Passenger Means Under NC Law
Having a passenger under 18 in the vehicle during an impaired-driving offense is not just an aggravating detail — it is a statutory grossly aggravating factor under North Carolina General Statutes § 20-179, according to the Manning Law Firm. That designation automatically mandates at least a Level 1 DWI sentence upon conviction, which under North Carolina law carries a mandatory minimum active jail sentence of 30 days, up to two years in prison, and fines that can reach $4,000, per Gilles Law PLLC. Separately, misdemeanor child abuse under North Carolina General Statutes § 14-318.2 is defined as knowingly creating or allowing a substantial risk of physical injury to a minor child, classified as a Class A1 misdemeanor, according to the Coolidge Law Firm.
Part of a Broader Pattern on Local Roads
Johnson's case is not an isolated one in the Charlotte region. A Charlotte 22-year-old was arrested in June on DWI and child abuse charges after officers clocked her driving 85 mph on Interstate 77 with two young children in the car while showing signs of alcohol impairment. And regionally, Mecklenburg County consistently ranks first among all 100 North Carolina counties for alcohol-related traffic deaths, logging 53 fatal crashes and 452 alcohol-involved injury crashes in a single year, according to North Carolina Department of Transportation statistics cited by James Scott Farrin. Traffic fatalities in the county surged 113% between 2014 and 2024, growing more than five times faster than the county's 21% population growth over the same period, per Shane Smith Law.
Johnson's second arrest occurred not far from the site of her first, along the same Statesville Road corridor in Huntersville that has seen other serious traffic incidents in recent months. It remains unclear what penalties Johnson ultimately faced from her 2025 case, or what will happen with the new charges stemming from her July arrest.
