A Wake County District Court judge ordered the Garner Police Department to return an alarm clock, cell phones, and computers seized from the home of a black family two weeks ago during a late-night raid over an alleged noise ordinance violation that stemmed from a white neighbor’s complaint that they were
playing Malcolm X speeches loudly.
As the
INDY first reported, police originally charged Mikisa Thompson with violating the ordinance, a class C misdemeanor that carries a maximum $500 fine, in April after neighbor Don Barnette called 911 to complain about the speeches, which he referred to as “Islamic-Jihadist type messages” in an interview
.
Police told Thompson to turn down her speaker and issued a citation. After she allegedly did not comply with their orders, they seized the $250 speaker from her backyard. (The police say the content of the noise had nothing to do with their actions—that would be unconstitutional—but the search warrant twice noted that she was playing Malcolm X.)