Video shows Raleigh police officers kneel on man's neck, yank on woman's hair during Wingstop arrests

Social justice activists and the employee who was arrested claim that Raleigh police officers escalated the situation and used unnecessary violence.

Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson said on Thursday that the department would be conducting an internal affairs investigation into what happened.

"RPD personnel are held to a high standard of conduct and any violation of policy and procedures will be fully investigated and subject to disciplinary action if substantiated based on the factual findings," Patterson said in a statement.

Police responded to the fast food restaurant after a 911 caller said that the employees verbally assaulted a group of customers and threw punches and chicken wings at them. The group of people who ordered wings said that their Door Dash order was incomplete and they were looking for a refund, according to the 911 call.

Lucretia Godwin, a store manager working at the time, said she tried to calm the customers down and told them she would remake their order. The customers were still unhappy, Godwin said, and so she said they could come back in the morning and talk to the restaurant's general manager.

The disgruntled customers claim that store employees began tossing chicken wings at them, while store employees claim that the customers began tossing chicken wings first. Godwin was in the back of the kitchen when a fight broke out, according to surveillance video reviewed by WRAL News.

Godwin eventually shoved the customers out of the store, she said, in an effort to defuse the situation. As she was shoving the customers out of the door, punches were thrown. Godwin claims that a man she was forcing out the door punched her, and she defended herself.

The 911 caller said that his friend and girlfriend were hit in the face by a man while being forced to leave the store. He also told dispatchers that the group "believed" there was a man entering the store with a gun.

Once that group of customers left the store, Godwin thought the situation was over. She didn't know that they had called the police.

Three officers arrived on the scene a couple minutes later, and Godwin said she was put on edge. That's when she pulled out her phone and started recording.

The three officers began focusing in on a customer who arrived after the fight, video shows. Officials say that the customer "matched the description given to the first officer" by the customer who called 911.

Mekhi Lucky, 24, tried to convince officers he was not involved in the fight. Godwin repeatedly defended Lucky and tried to convince police he was not involved, according to video captured at the scene.

"I was trying to help Lucky because he reminded me of my brother," Godwin told WRAL News. She said she's witnessed officers attacking her brother "for no reason."

While talking to officers, Lucky became more upset and defensive as they appeared not to understand he was not present at the store for the fight, video showed.

When the officers attempted to arrest Lucky, customers and employees joined together to shout at them, Godwin's video shows.

Lucky told the officer, "You're not going to try that on me, I swear to God. On my soul," according to video captured at the scene.

Godwin then asked for the officer to "chill out" and asked the officer to step away from Lucky. Lucky can be heard shouting, "I hate RPD ... you all hate me." The officer replies to Lucky, as heard on the video, "I don't hate you."

Officers were eventually able to get Lucky on the ground. As he fought back, one officer pressed his knee to Lucky's neck. Godwin's video shows that he held that position for at least 10 seconds.

"Get off his neck!" Godwin can be heard shouting. The video shows an officer shoving Godwin and slapping her phone out of her hand twice. Her phone camera shattered shortly after.

Video shows that at least four officers then piled on top of Godwin, attempting to arrest her. One officer can be seen on video recorded by another employee wrapping her hand around Godwin's hair and yanking on it.

"They're making it seem like I did something to them, but they were assaulting me though," Godwin told WRAL News. "They were mad because I was recording them."

At the end of the night, four people were charged. Two people were charged in connection to the fight that initially brought police to the Wingstop. Alexandra Henly, 32, from Durham, was charged with simple assault, disorderly conduct and resisting, delaying or obstructing an officer. She turned herself into police later that night, according to the Raleigh Police Department.

A teenager who worked at the Wingstop was also charged for being involved in the fight, according to police.

Police claim that Godwin "interfered" with officers when they tried to make arrests and that she "assaulted two officers." Godwin fiercely denies this.

She was arrested and charged with two felony counts of assaulting a police officer and one count each of resisting arrest, injury to personal property and assault and battery. Lucky was charged with resisting arrest.

Officials say that two officers were treated for injuries on the scene. No other injuries were reported, including injuries among those who were detained.

Kerwin Pittman, director of policy and program with the non-profit group EmancipateNC, said he found the video on social media to be "very concerning and unsettling."

"What I want to see prevented is this type of escalation," he said. "It begs the question, why didn't the Raleigh police department de-escalate? They go through simulations and trainings ... so why are these tactics and tools not being utilized in real world experiences?"

Lucky has been arrested eight times in Wake County since 2016, according to court records. One of the reasons that the video has gained attention online is that Lucky posted it on his social media. He gained some internet fame after a previous arrest when his mugshot, showing that he has one blue eye, went viral and allowed him to get modeling jobs.

"Clearly, this was a guy who had a bad experience with law enforcement previously, and it was just exacerbated," Pittman said.

Lucky's criminal history shows previous charges of assault on a female and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill after shooting into an occupied vehicle, according to court records.

Our newsroom has reached out to Lucky through Justice Served NC. A spokesperson for the organization told WRAL News that Lucky was consulting with his lawyers before speaking to the media.

The Raleigh Police Department did not provide WRAL News with the names of the officers involved in this incident. Patterson released her statement on the internal affairs investigation a day after WRAL News first published this story.