Judge orders public release of officer video showing Grove Arcade worker's forceful arrest

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The officer body camera footage showing a Grove Arcade worker's recent forceful arrest will soon be made public, following a hearing in Buncombe County Superior Court.

In a brief hearing Jan. 13, Superior Court Judge Gary Gavenus signed an order granting the release of the video "to the general public." City attorney John Maddux was the only party present for the hearing. When asked by Gavenus if there was an attorney representing the Asheville Police Department, Maddux said he represents both the city and the police department, stating they "are the same."

Following the order, Maddux told the Citizen Times that the video could be released at any time, depending on how soon the police department can make it available.

"I couldn't say how quickly they'll get it turned around, but it should be fairly quickly," Maddux said.

"I don't know how the police department is planning on putting it up. The last couple of times we've done this; we've put it up through the YouTube channel or something like that."

Under North Carolina law, police recordings can only be publicly released by a court order, hence the Jan. 13 hearing. APD has released video of controversial arrests in the recent past, including the May 2023 forceful arrest of Devon Whitmire after a petition from the city — which was heavily edited by insertion of APD-written text overlayed on the video — and the arrests of protesters and two reporters in Ashton Park after a request from the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina.

While he was at work during a busy Monday evening on Dec. 9, longtime Grove Arcade janitor Louis Searles, 63, was forcefully taken into custody by three APD officers investigating a stolen motor vehicle, which police later determined Searles was "not in any way involved with," court records state.

Bystanders and workers within the Grove Arcade — many who know Searles on a first name basis — expressed outrage over the way officers treated him. Bystander cell phone video shows two officers take Searles to the ground and place a charged Taser on his back.

Searles was taken to the Buncombe County Detention Facility and was told he'd face two charges. But before the charges were officially filed, an APD lieutenant told the officers to take Searles’ information out of the computer and apologized to him for the “misunderstanding,” according to Searles and APD spokesperson Rick Rice.