Former Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Phillip Barker was convicted of misdemeanor death by vehicle after striking and killing 28-year-old James Michael Short while responding to a call in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The crash happened around 3:30 a.m. on July 8, 2017, on East Morehead Street near Euclid Avenue, south of Uptown Charlotte. Short was a Central Piedmont Community College student walking across Morehead Street when Barker’s marked patrol car hit him.
According to WBTV, Barker was driving up to 100 miles per hour in a 35-mile-per-hour zone while responding to another crash scene. Police said Short was walking across Morehead Street against the traffic light, but he was in the crosswalk when he was hit.
The impact killed Short and threw his body down Morehead Street. The Charlotte Observer reported that Barker was responding to a “priority one” call involving a crash on Kings Drive where the driver may have been ejected.
Barker had his emergency lights and siren activated. But prosecutors argued that emergency driving authority did not give him permission to drive with disregard for public safety. Then-CMPD Chief Kerr Putney described Barker’s speed as excessive and said officers are allowed to speed with emergency equipment activated only if they still keep public safety in mind.
Barker was originally charged with misdemeanor death by vehicle. Prosecutors later took the case to a grand jury, which returned a more serious involuntary manslaughter indictment. By the time the case went to trial in December 2022, Barker faced involuntary manslaughter and two counts of misdemeanor death by vehicle.
During trial, prosecutors focused on Barker’s speed and the danger created by driving roughly 100 miles per hour through the area. WCCB reported that prosecutors replayed Barker’s body camera footage to show the danger of his speed on the night Short was killed.
The defense argued that the crash was a tragic accident, not a crime. Barker’s attorneys pointed to the emergency call, the activated lights and siren, and Short’s own actions as factors jurors should consider.
On December 14, 2022, a jury found Barker guilty of misdemeanor death by vehicle. The Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office said the jury found Barker was not exercising due regard for the safety of others, was not entitled to the law enforcement exemption from speed laws, and that his conduct was a proximate cause of Short’s death.
Jurors did not convict Barker of involuntary manslaughter. The case ended with a misdemeanor conviction instead of a felony homicide conviction.
WBTV reported that Judge Robert Ervin sentenced Barker to 12 months of unsupervised probation, 50 hours of community service, and a 12-month driver’s license suspension. Barker apologized in court and asked for leniency.
After the verdict, CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings said Barker had submitted his resignation and was no longer employed by the department. Jennings also said Barker had been responding to a call for service while going 100 miles per hour in a 35-mile-per-hour zone when he struck and killed Short.
Short’s family had already reached a civil settlement before the criminal trial. Associated Press reporting carried by WLOS said the City of Charlotte paid $950,000 to Short’s family in connection with his death.
The criminal outcome was limited: no jail time, no prison sentence, and a misdemeanor conviction. But the jury still found that Barker’s emergency response was not protected by the law enforcement speed exemption because he failed to use due regard for the safety of others.
James Michael Short was a 28-year-old student crossing Morehead Street. Phillip Barker was a police officer driving a marked cruiser at highway speed through a city street. The crash killed Short, and the legal system treated that death as a misdemeanor.
