Suspect walked out of jail free from murder charge, spent 6 months in jail. While in jail he got evicted, car repossession, lost kids, and lost job. Now he is rightfully suing the Charlotte Police Department for false arrest. CMPD cops arrest black people all the time for crimes they did not commit, mainly in west Charlotte and on West Sugar Creek. If you look a certain way, you are automatically a criminal in many cop’s eyes
Many CMPD cops are racially biased, cops all across the nation too. Hence if you are black or latino and you dress a certain way or look like a criminal, cops will harass and detain you for no reason, when they have no probable cause whatsoever. Every black person in a high crime area is not a criminal, cops dont get that notion. David Graves, 40, spent 6 months in jail after he was wrongly arrested for the murder of Sean Watson, 48, in Charlotte, NC.
The murder charge on David was dropped in February 2026. Sean was shot and killed on August 28, 2025 on Hoskins Mill Lane. Sean was a rich business owner with multiple luxury exotic cars.
David and Sean were planning to meet up in the night time hour. David gave repeated confirmations that he was on the way to meet Sean, but David never showed up. Follow Charlotte Alerts on Instagram.
At one point Sean sends a text message to David in exasperation of the late arrival saying, “Yooooo!!”
Men then approach Sean’s vehicle with guns. Sean runs away on foot, as the men give chase. A door bell camera captures Sean saying, “I knew this was a set up!!”
The suspects had masks on and shoot Sean dead. Yes, David has been arrested over 10 times, he does not have the cleanest record. But Charlotte Alerts read the case file, and there is nothing in it that shows or proves that David murdered Sean.
The puny evidence that police have is when they said David’s body build is similar to one of the suspects on camera murdering Sean. We all know that body build is not evidence.
Questions should be asked as to why David was suppose to meet Sean so late, and why did David pretend to show up and not respond to text messages about his arrival. As weird and murky as the intended meet up seems, none of that is evidence of a murder.
David had a phone that pinged him in south Charlotte at the time of the crime. Yet the murder was in west Charlotte.
Even without hard evidence, cops arrested David 3 days after the homicide and charged him with murder.
David had a restaurant oven cleaning business. While in jail he lost his business due to him not being able to show up, he lost his kids visitation, he lost his car to repossession for non-payment, and he lost his house due to eviction because he could not pay the rent.
CMPD cops just assumed David was a suspect in the murder, CMPD cops just assumed that David murdered the man because of body build and David being a black man. What will it take for CMPD cops to act like they have some sense and treat everyone fair and not violate people’s constitutional rights.
It takes lawsuits and terminations, money gets everyone’s attention. Prosecutors dropped the murder charge on David in February 2026 after he was in jail for 6 months with no bond. Hence, guilty until proven innocent. Everyone in jail and prison is not guilty.
David is now suing the city of Charlotte and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department for false arrest and other claims. David lost everything because of this arrest.
Even after the arrest David has problems with the public. Recently he was pressure washing pavement for clients. The customers saw him on the news with his murder arrest and allegation, so the client fired him on the spot and told him not to come back to their property.
