Bouncer Says Teens Took Over Uptown On Fourth Of July, Police Step In As ‘No Parents Around’

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A crowd of more than 50 teenagers took over a street in Uptown Charlotte according to business employees who say they saw no parents with any of the underage celebrators.

Asseio Azzam works at Chex Grill & Wings on South Church Street. The store is just a block away from Truist Field where fireworks were shot off for Independence Day. Azzam says work was going good until the show ended and crowds took over the street he works on.

“Majority of them was teenagers,” Azzam said. “They were the ones who were causing the troubles.”

He stood inside serving food and watching teenagers run by. Charlie the owner of Scorpion Security Group was working the door wondering where the adults were.

“They’re cussing us out because we won’t let them in without an adult,” Charlie said about the mob of teens who wanted inside Chex Grill.

He says he’s never seen anything like it while working security. He’s used to dealing with drunk people and says that is much easier than the large group of kids he encountered on the fourth.

He saw at least 50 kids grouped up, none were with a parent. The security guard says things got even more chaotic when someone lit a firework on the sidewalk.

“Somebody set off a firecracker,” Charlie said. “Kids tried to run in the business, had to hold the door. It was crazy.”

Charlie says he saw many of those teens holding alcoholic drinks and some even carrying weapons.

CMPD showed up in force to coral the teens. Our cameras saw the many attempts to disperse the underage crowd and even caught an officer spray something into a group in an attempt to move the kids.

Eventually police were able to get the teenage crowd to move on but only after two adults were arrested along with ten underage kids between the ages of 13 and 17. A firearm, more than 12 lbs. of marijuana, and three boxes of fireworks were also seized.

CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings said in a press conference before the Fourth of July that officers conducted 32 home visits with past teen offenders to try and stop kids from swarming uptown on Independence Day. Those 32 teens were offenders from last year’s Fourth of July festivities.

“We are visiting their guardians so they can clearly understand the consequences associated with their actions,” Chief Jennings said.

Out of the 32 home visits, CMPD says only one of the teens re-offended this year. The department has stated that no major incidents occurred in uptown on the Fourth of July despite multiple arrest.

Uptown businesses who dealt with Thursday’s mass of teens say they are happy with how CMPD handled the crowd, and hope parents will take a bigger interest in what their kids do on holidays.

Businesses in Uptown Charlotte are happy to be past Independence Day.