December 1, 2025 • 31 mins
Tune in here to this Monday edition of Breaking With Brett Jensen!
Breaking Brett Jensen opens the show by discussing a story he broke on social media: The City of Charlotte has settled a seven-year lawsuit brought by Lance Patterson, the husband of newly appointed Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Estella Patterson. Jensen notes that the $99,999 payout is significant because City Manager Marcus Jones does not need City Council approval for settlements under $100,000. Another notable detail is that the payout will be divided between two parties: Patterson will receive $40,000, and his legal team at James McIlroy & Diehl will receive the remaining amount of $59,000.
Later, Jensen speaks with North Carolina Rep. David Willis, who represents Union County. Willis discusses “Iryna’s Law,” which took effect in North Carolina today. He was a key advocate for the measure, which honors slain Ukrainian immigrant Iryna Zarutska. Zarutska's death on Charlotte's light rail made national and international headlines back in August.
Among the several components of the law, Willis says the main provisions address cashless bail and pretrial release for violent offenders. He adds that the law also revises the definition of violent offenses in an effort to reduce the burden on inexperienced magistrates. Willis concludes the interview by noting that the law aims to better address the mental health needs of violent offenders.
Listen here for all of this and more on Breaking With Brett Jensen.
To be the first to hear about Breaking Brett Jensen's exclusives and more follow him on X @Brett_Jensen!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Hi, Oh, let's go. I oh, let's go. Oh, let's go.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Oh, let's go.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
News Talk eleven ten and ninety nine three WBT Brett
Jensen here with you on this jammed pack edition of
Breaking with Brett Jensen on this Monday night as we
go up until seven o'clock, seven oh four, five eleven ten.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
That is the telephone number as always, as well as
the WBT text line, driven of course by Liberty Buick
GMC and guys. I tell you this every single day.
You need to follow me on x at Brett Underscore Jensen.
When I say for all the latest and breaking news
in and around the Charlotte area, well four o'clock today,
(01:10):
you would understand why. And we're going to get into
that in a second. And today also is the start
of the Arena Zeruska's Law. We all know who she is.
Tragically killed on the light rail here in Charlotte. Democrats
went eerily silent for nearly two and a half weeks
(01:32):
before they were even making any comments or remarks about it.
Most of the city council didn't say anything about it.
But by God, they're out there with all in all fours.
When a border patrol came to town differences arena Zeruska
immigrant here legally anyways, So we're going to get into
(01:52):
that in the bottom of the hour as North caulind
and Representative David Willis would join us to talk about
the law and what it means for the City of Charlot.
And then today it was also the first day of filing,
the first day of filing for candidates who want to
run for election in twenty twenty six. That includes your senators,
(02:14):
your congressman, your county commissioners, that includes everyone. Okay, everyone,
But we're going to start off tonight with an exclusive
report that I had exclusive report and your year it
here on during the newscast on WBT and you also
(02:36):
if you would see it on my X account at
Brett Underscore Jensen and I'm just going to read you
what I posted on X. By the way, it's gone
viral in two hours. I have obtained documents that show
the City of Charlotte paid out ninety nine ninety nine
(02:59):
dollars to a seven year lawsuit brought forth by Lance Patterson,
who is the husband of new CMPD chief Estella Patterson.
By the way, she gets sworn in on Friday she
started work today, but she basically will get sworn in
on Friday. So I want to make sure you guys
understand that the husband of the new CMPD chief had
(03:20):
their lawsuits settled for ninety nine thousand, nine and ninety
nine dollars. That number is is a significant amount because
City Manager Marcus Jones doesn't have to gain city council
approval for anything less than one hundred thousand dollars. So
think about that. For a second, one hundred thousand dollars
(03:44):
or more, you have to get approval from elected officials.
Nine thousand dollars ninety nine and ninety nine dollars or less,
you can just struck a check. So he wrote it
for the exact the most maximum amount to settle this
lawsuit to the husband of the new CMPD chief. And
we already know what happened with the last CMPD chief
(04:06):
and that secret payout that city council tried to do,
specifically Attorney Anthony Fox. So Jones went to the very
limit of what he could approve to pay without elected
officials having to know. The payout of ninety nine, nine
hundred and ninety nine dollars is divided into two parts. Patterson,
(04:32):
he will get forty thousand dollars, while his legal team
at James mcelroyin deal will receive the majority at fifty nine,
nine and ninety nine dollars. So his attorney's got sixty
percent of the payout for a seven year lawsuit, and
somebody I had lawyers to say, that seems like a
(04:53):
very very hefty amount. Usually something like this, the lawyers
might get a third of the settlement, so one hundred
thousand dollars payout. The lawyers might usually get thirty three
thousand dollars, but this was a seven year lawsuit, so
their attorney fees were probably way more than the fifty
(05:15):
nine nine ninety nine dollars that they wound up getting.
So a seven year lawsuit based on racial discrimination, racial harassment,
and racial retaliation that he foled against the City of
Charlotte as well as claims multiple claims that his First Amendment.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Rights were violated.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
The City of Charlotte fought this lawsuit for years, seven
years to be exact. It was scheduled to go to court.
I believe this week. I think December fourth, which I
think was Thursday. I believe it, but I believe it
was scheduled to go to court this week in federal court. Okay,
(06:01):
he followed Title seven. He filed the lawsuit under title seven.
You've heard of Title nine with the women in Athletic
sports and equalness. This was Title seven under discrimination based
on color or sex. So let me give you the
timeline of events. On October fourteenth, Lance Patterson agreed to
(06:27):
the settlement. October twenty first, City Manager Marcus Jones signed
off on the settlement October thirty first. Estella Patterson, Lance
Patterson's wife, Estella Patterson, is named new CMPD chief on
October thirty first. November three, Estella Patterson has her press conference,
(06:51):
at which point someone with the works for the city
came up to me and said, I had to be
honest with you. I thought you were going to ask
about the lawsuit during the press conference. It was her
introductory press conference to the City of Charlotte. On November fourteenth,
North Carolina Auditor Dave Bollock asked the City of Charlotte
about details of the payout, and then Wednesday, the day
(07:15):
before Thanksgiving, at about six pm, the city Council is
told by the city attorney what the payouts were. In
the deal in all the particulars I want you to
think about that. At six pm, a after working hours,
(07:37):
at six pm on five point fifty three pm to
be exact, sent out the email to the city council
members explaining what had happened and the transactions the day
before Thanksgiving, after everyone's already gone home for the day,
(07:58):
to maybe hope no one will see it. I've told
you this many times. If you ever see a press
release go out at like four point thirty four o'clock
four forty five on a Friday, that means they're hoping
that no one sees it and that it's buried because
by the time Monday rolls around, nobody will care and
(08:19):
everyone will have moved on to the next news cycle.
So I posted this on X with actual screenshots of
the actual documents and the lawsuit settlement and everything else, right,
so you can go to my ex account and look
it up and in two hours I've posted it at
three point fifty nine, to be exact, And in two
(08:43):
hours and sixteen minutes it already has thirty five thousand views,
one hundred and sixty retweets, three hundred and sixty nine likes,
and thirty seven comments. That's two hours and thirteen or
sixteen minutes. Yeah, people are interested in this, to say
(09:06):
the least. And we got a lot more stuff to
talk about as well. Welcome back to Breaking with Brett
Jensen on this Monday night. In case you're just joining us.
Coming up in about ten minutes from now, David Willis,
(09:28):
North Carolina state representative out of Union County to discuss
what the arenas of risk of the law is because
he's the one that helped vote it, put it into law,
and it went into effect today, So we'll get into
all that state law deals with criminals and magistrates and
judges and everything. So we'll get into that. And also
today was the first day if you want to file
for your candidacy to run for office in twenty twenty
(09:50):
six county commissioners. That also includes Congressman Senators Michael Whalley,
Roy Cooper, that also includes state representatives like David Willis
state senators. So you have from today until a couple
of Fridays from now December nineteenth at twelve o'clock twelve
(10:14):
o'clock noon, that's the deadline on December nineteenth to file
for election. And we'll get into some of that in
a little bit, But I want to continue the discussion
of the news that I broke about two hours and
twenty five minutes ago on X You hear it in
the newscasts, but also just to spend a lot of
time talking about it here in the first part of
(10:36):
the show, explaining what was going on where the City
of Charlotte paid out the husband of the new CMPD
chief paid out ninety nine nine ninety nine dollars. Well, Brett,
why did they do that? Well, Lance Patterson is worked
(10:56):
at the Charlotte Fire Department, or I should say works
at the Charlotte Fire Department at least until December thirty first.
Part of the settlement was that he agrees to resive
or retire on December thirty first, and he agreed to that. Well,
the reason also they paid the ninety ninety nine dollars
(11:19):
is because anything less than one hundred thousand dollars the
city manager can just do on his own. He doesn't
have to inform the city council. Yes, the mayor and
all that, but not city council. City council, Nope, didn't
have to tell him, didn't have to tell him anything. Now,
you should probably be obliged to do so, because the
(11:41):
city council can is your boss, not the mayor. City
of council is the one that can hire you and
fire you. Same thing with the city manager, city attorney,
county manager, county attorney.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
So a lot going on there.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
But speaking of city council, there we go. So tonight
as we speak, the new city council was sworn in.
Jd arius is one of the people sworn in. And
I will just tell you almost every single person that
(12:18):
I spoke to, Republican or Democrat, believes jd Arias is
a communist. And I'm not even trying to be funny.
I'm being straight up communist, minimal socialist at the least
a socialist like the new Mandami up there in DC.
Not even joking. He worked, He came here as an
(12:39):
illegal immigrant, got a scholarship at Queen's University in Charlotte.
What's cms scholarship at Queen's University? They look universities like
to give scholarships to foreign born people. They do, and
he was foreign born. And he goes up and he
(13:01):
works for AOC for a long time or for a while,
and basically is wants to be the second coming of Mondami,
not even joking, like I'm being straight legit. So now
you have the first socialist on the Charlotte City Council.
(13:21):
When I tell you, every single day, Charlotte is getting
worse Charlotte, Charlotte. If you are anything but a democrat,
Charlotte is dead to you. Charlott's dead to you. You
will have no say so. And how things are operated
in the city of Charlotte zero. Charlotte, with each passing
(13:43):
day is becoming more like Baltimore, Memphis, New Orleans, Saint Louis, Detroit.
Every day crime is rising and the city keeps taking
a downturn because the elected politicians have this delusion of grandeur.
(14:04):
And Seattle's been ruined, Portland's been ruined, San Francisco's been ruined,
LA's been ruined. New York is now ruined with a socialist,
an actual yes, I am a socialist. Seattle just selected
a socialist. Look at the representatives coming out of Minnesota, Ilain, Omar,
for God's sakes. But in city council tonight you have
(14:30):
people fighting to become mayor pro tem, which essentially the
vice mayor. You got three people Dimpleajh mayor was the
highest vote getter. Usually they give it to the highest
vote getterer. She was the highest vote getter last time,
and the city council members wanted no part of her
being the vice mayor Mayor pro tem. Smudgie Mitchell is
(14:51):
the other candidate that you're hearing no show. Smudgie never
shot ups ever did a big thing on him, how
he just wouldn't show up to meetings, and now he
may be the mayor pro tem. Maybe that's one way
to get him to actually show up to meetings. And
Dante Anderson the previous or current but current pro tem
(15:13):
Mayor pro tem. But where it is a lot of
people don't like her because they don't think that she's
hard enough on the mayor, disagrees with the mayor enough.
The mayor pro tem should disagree with the mayor. It should,
But when you're all in a silo together city council,
half like the mayor, half don't like the mayor. And
now there's this battle within city council. So we'll be
(15:34):
interesting to see who gets the mayor pro tem tonight.
All right, when we come back, Representative David Willis will
be joining us to talk about the arenas the risk
of law that went into effect across the state today.
Welcome back to Breaking with Brett Jensen on this what
do we got Monday night? Monday Night of Breaking with
(15:55):
bred Jensen, as we go up until seven o'clock. Okay,
so we're already way way way way late, like like
way late, like stupidly five minutes past or four minutes
past when we should be coming back to you. So
but even with that said, so I'm just gonna let
Pam Warner know that we're gonna be a little bit
(16:15):
late here because I've got an interview coming up with
North Carolina State Representative David Willis.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
First of all, I want to say thanks for joining us.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
And second of all, the Arena Zeruska law went into
effect today, and so let's get into the very bare
basics of it. You know, she was here in Charlotte
when she got murdered, and you guys created a new
law for her. So just in the bare bone basics,
can you explain what the Arena Zaruska law is and
how are how are things different today than they were
over the weekend or last Friday or any day going
(16:45):
backwards so.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
Bred there's a number of moving parts uh in there,
and it's kind of hard to just uh, you know,
oversimplify it. But in essence, it's gonna deal with cashlest bail.
It's gonna deal with you know, pre try releases for
violent offenders and a number of different instances. It's it's
remodifying or re designing what is considered uh, you know,
(17:09):
violent offense in certain cases, taking a lot of this
I guess judgment, if you will, out of the hands
of maybe an untrained or an un I guess an
unexperienced uh magistrate or a judge to really require them
to keep these violent offenders off the streets, uh, and
(17:30):
and really put the burden back on uh, you know,
the jails to keep these folks and keep them, keep
them out of our streets, and keep them, you know,
keep the folks of of Charlotte in North Carolina safe.
You know, there's a number of things that that we've
seen over the years where uh, you know, it's just
been more of a political theater than it has been
a real judicial system or a judicial process playing out
(17:51):
with these and you've had magistrates and judges who have
taken it upon themselves kind of determine what they want
to do with uh, with a number of these folks.
And so while there's always been sort of a matrix,
if you will, that they were intended to follow based
on the severity of the crimes, we had a lot
of folks that were pushing the envelope in that area
(18:11):
and we saw the ramifications of that, not just with
the arena, but a number of victims across Charlotte in
the past year. And it's just it's time for you know,
those folks to be held accountable and to be on
the magistrates side and the judicial side as well as
those committing these pinous acts. And we've got to, you know,
find the right balance of course between you know, innocent
(18:33):
before proven guilty. But at the same time, you know,
we we've got to get folks who we know are
a danger to society office streets.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Speaking with North Kunina State Representative David Willis out of
Union County. So last week there was a lot of
information coming out saying that, hey, jails are about to
be overcrowded with all these new inmates that won't be
able to be released back into the streets. Is that
a real problem? Have you heard about that, and or
is this like just something that's completely made up and
(19:01):
not a real issue.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
I think it's a non issue. I mean, I think
if you look and actually I saw some of the
sheriff's comments about that, and I think it's laughable given
the number of folks who have been uh you know,
released early, the number of folks who have had serious
crimes in Mecklenburg County just reduced to a slap on
the wrist. I mean, it's it's laughable.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
And I think it's you know, we've got the worst
sheriff in North Carolina, uh, you know, complaining about politics
and about the lack of funding for this, but the
reality is him been doing their job for years and
and you look at the leadership at the city of
the county level. Uh you know, they closed the jail facility.
Uh you know maybe when they they're they're concerned about
staffing and some of these other issues. The issue, not
(19:45):
you know, doesn't lie necessarily with the general Assembly, lies
directly with the leadership.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
And when you've got you know, city leaders calling police
officers domestic terrorists and uh, you know, them them refusing
to comply with ICE in this I mean they've they've
been you know, avoiding their job and the responsibility they
have to protect the citizens of Charlotte in North Carolina
for years, and I think it's just another missuh direction
by them to fail because they fail to do their job.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Speaking of North count of state represented, David willis out
of Union County. So last week I talked about the
spillover effect from the criminals in Mecklenburg County and how
the crime element is getting to the surrounding counties, so
specifically with Union County.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
How do the residents feel safe there?
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Do you think do they think, you know, they are
they worried about the spillover effect from Mecklinburg County. And
then also I guess maybe just across the state when
you speak to your colleagues up in Raleigh, do their
constituents feel safe? Do they feel like crime is getting
out of control across the whole state?
Speaker 4 (20:44):
Well, you know, so from a Union County side, I
feel very safe. I think most of our folks down here,
you know, feel like we're you know, we live in
a good, safe environment and our folks hold people accountable.
They're not scared to fill up the jail if it
needs to be and you know, and take people to trial.
You know, in Mecklenburg, you've got a number of folks
who were just slapped on the wrist and let out
before the PaperWorks even finished. And so you've got repeat
(21:07):
criminals that have just been in Bold and I think
some of that was you know, and I'll blame the
legislative process a little bit on that. Going back to
the raised the age laws. I mean, we had a
number of well intended but I guess just bad judgment
calls made on you know, changing some of those laws
and trying to keep more people out of jail. And
what it's done is in Bold and especially the younger
(21:29):
individuals in the juvenile space, because they just you know,
they just get slap on the wrist and sit back
to their parents and instead of being held accountable. And
so it's had the adverse effect on crime than they
you know, the so called experts that predicted that it
would have. And we've got more more and more youth
getting involved in crimes. We've got more serious crimes happening,
(21:51):
you know, from these kids and they just you know,
they learned that there's you know, not going to be
any ramifications to their actions, and you know, by the
time they get to be an adult, what happens then, right,
And so you know, we've just seen it across the
board the last few years. We've closed some of those
loopholes and re uh you know, re visited the laws
that were I think premature and and kind of made
(22:14):
a lot of those more serious felonies and looking at
when you know, an adolescent can be charged as an
adult again. And we're kind of fixing some of those wrongs.
But I think we do see a lot of spillover
from Mecklinburgh County. You hear it not just from us
in Union, but you know Caberras and Gaston and you
know the other surrounding counties. I mean, we we all
feel that, you know, folks coming in and out of Charlotte,
(22:36):
uh and and you know, doing crimes in in in
Union County and about. And you know our rise to
them is, you know, stay in Mecklenburg and you know
you're gonna get put in jail here in Union County.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
North Carolina Representative David Willis, is there anything else that
you'd like to say to the listeners tonight.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
Well, I think one of the parallels to this too,
Brett Is. I mean, we do need to talk about
mental health and and that comes up as a lot
of this, you know, gets discussed, and I think we
take a lot of heat and Raleigh for avoiding or
not really addressing the mental health side of that. And
I think part of the law that you're going to
see really does address the mental health side of this
requires folks to do a thorough evaluation with an intake
(23:17):
specialist and someone that can really evaluate where these folks
need to be, whether it's in a facility or in
a prison, you know, in the short term, and then
really trying to evaluate what their long term needs are
and how we either go through the judicial system or
the mental health side of this. But you know, we
we have paid great deal of attention to the mental
health crisis that's happening. I think we need to do
(23:38):
more of that as we move forward. But it's something
that we have included in this and it's something not
to be overlooked.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
North Carolina Representative David Willis again out of Union County.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
I really do appreciate your time tonight.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Thank you, sir, have a great day all right.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Again, thanks to David Willis side of Union County. And
so again Rita's the Risco's law goes in went into
effect today. Cash less bail gone. You are a violent offender.
You now actually have to have a bail. And now
there's going to be guidelines and criteria for jail for
judges and magistrates to have to follow. Welcome back to
(24:20):
franking with Brett Jenson a few more minutes here on
this Monday night, told Jay it was jam packed. Started
off with the story that I broke at four o'clock
today about another about the details of another secret payout,
this one to the newly named police chief's husband, Lance Patterson.
Ninety nine and ninety nine dollars. Why was it that
(24:43):
odd of a number, because anything less than one hundred thousand,
city manager can just struck a check without having to
get approval from the city council or even having to
tell the city council, and forty thousand of it will
go to Lance Patterson sixty thousand, well technically fifty ninety
nine dollars we'll go to his law firm. So a
(25:05):
seven year lawsuit and you got forty k. You got
forty k over seven years, almost seven years to the
day like it was six years and eleven months. And
then this I told you about the city council tonight
in Charlotte. They're trying to pick their mayor pro tem.
(25:26):
That is going to be a knockdown, drag out dimple
Ashmero went down did not get it last time, much
to her chagrin. And even though she was like the
top vote getter, which usually goes to the mayor pro
tem goes to the top vote getter of the at large,
she was also the top voote getter again this time.
(25:48):
And people apparently are unhappy with Renee. But maybe she'll
get it. Maybe she excuse me, Dante, not Renee Dante Anderson.
She was mayor pro tawm, but people think that she's
too buddy buddy with the mayor. So now it Smudgie
Mitchell no show. Smudgie missed a ton of meetings. Maybe
(26:15):
mayor pro tem this will get him to be a
way to actually show up to the meetings on a
regular basis now, because you're one of the ones that
like puts forth the agenda, so you have to show
up for that. And then today is the day the
Arenas of Risk of Law goes into effect. Had David
Willis North Kinta State or North Carolina Representative North kind
of state Representative David Willis out of Union County to
(26:37):
talk about what the arenas of riskal law means and
the impact that we will have going forward. I told
you earlier. Today is the first day of filing for
twenty twenty six elections. Okay, twenty twenty six elections. Today
was the first day for filing. You have until December
nineteenth and twelve o'clock to file. People have already in
(26:58):
Mecklimore County of already started filing, and a lot of
them were the incumbents that are already in office. Not
a big surprise there. You know, you've got like George
Dunlap filed for candidate for a county commissioner. Another Democrat,
Phil Carey, filed to run against him, you know, county
(27:21):
commissioners like You've got all these people that are running.
Look Laura Budd State representative out of one O three
that apparently doesn't know what a woman is, even though
I think she is one.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
But you know what happens when you assume. You know
what happens when you assume.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
But anyways, But the one name that stood out to
me the name and I don't know, there's like maybe
a dozen or so people that filed today and more
like I said, you have until December nineteenth, But the
name that stood.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Out to me is Ridney Collins. Ridney Collins people announce,
I mean, before I tell you who he is, People
announce all the time that they're running for office, and
then two or three months go by and either a
during that two or three months, they can't raise money,
(28:14):
or they get cold feed, or they know that they
can't win and they don't. So I wasn't sure if
he was going to actually file. People do this all
the time. Family doesn't want them to whatever. Well, Rodney
Collins filed today, and there have been four or five
(28:34):
people announced that they're running for Mecklimber County share, including
Gary McFadden, who had made that announcement right here on
my show. So he's trying to Gary McFadden's trying to
get elected for the third time. But Rodney Collins was
the right hand man, number two in charge at the
Mecklinberre County Shriff's Department for many many years. He retired
(29:00):
and now he's running for sheriff, and that's going to
be interesting to see how that turns out. And I
promise you Rodney Collins will be on this show and
as others file for that race. That's going to be
one of the biggest local races that we have. There
(29:21):
are going to be some House seats and some Senate seats.
House you know, yes, the North County are the federal Senate, yes,
with Wally and Cooper. But I'm talking about like Mecklimurre
County Senate seats or Senate seats for the state of
North Carolina, local representatives out of North Mecklimbore County, local
representatives on the House side out of Mecklimore County, like
(29:43):
Tricia Cotham's race, or up there in the Huntersville area
District ninety eight. What's going to happen in District forty
two on the Senate side here in Mecklimore County. So
while those three races will be needed to be watched,
what happens in the Mecklimburg County sheriff's race is going
to be extremely interesting and we will be getting or
(30:09):
I will be getting all those candidates on this show.
I promise you. I promise you that. So Rodney Collins
went through with it. Kudos to Rodney. It takes a
lot of guts to want to do that. Like even
if you lose by a you know, twenty thousand votes,
(30:32):
or whether you win by twenty thousand votes, it still
takes a lot to put yourself out there, and it
takes a lot for the family and everything else. So
when you decide to run for office, kudos. It's a lot.
Even if you have no chance, it's a lot. Even
if you are a guaranteed winner, it's a lot. So
kudos to Ridney Collins. I've known Rodney. Rodney was little
(30:53):
to be the very first person I ever met at
the Melimber County Sheriff's office, and that was in twenty nineteen.
So I've known Rodney since twenty nineteen, almost the exact
same time when I met Gary McFadden. So we will
get Ridney Collins on the show at some point. But again,
(31:13):
you have nineteen days to file to run for election
in twenty twenty six. All right, everyone, TJ. Ritchie is
coming up next for a full, glorious two hour show.
I'm hoping that he's gonna unleash the dogs tonight. That's
what I'm hoping. All right, everyone, So until tomorrow night,
my name is Brett Jensen and you have been listening
to Breaking with Brett Jensen
Hi, Oh, let's go. I oh, let's go. Oh, let's go.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Oh, let's go.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
News Talk eleven ten and ninety nine three WBT Brett
Jensen here with you on this jammed pack edition of
Breaking with Brett Jensen on this Monday night as we
go up until seven o'clock, seven oh four, five eleven ten.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
That is the telephone number as always, as well as
the WBT text line, driven of course by Liberty Buick
GMC and guys. I tell you this every single day.
You need to follow me on x at Brett Underscore Jensen.
When I say for all the latest and breaking news
in and around the Charlotte area, well four o'clock today,
(01:10):
you would understand why. And we're going to get into
that in a second. And today also is the start
of the Arena Zeruska's Law. We all know who she is.
Tragically killed on the light rail here in Charlotte. Democrats
went eerily silent for nearly two and a half weeks
(01:32):
before they were even making any comments or remarks about it.
Most of the city council didn't say anything about it.
But by God, they're out there with all in all fours.
When a border patrol came to town differences arena Zeruska
immigrant here legally anyways, So we're going to get into
(01:52):
that in the bottom of the hour as North caulind
and Representative David Willis would join us to talk about
the law and what it means for the City of Charlot.
And then today it was also the first day of filing,
the first day of filing for candidates who want to
run for election in twenty twenty six. That includes your senators,
(02:14):
your congressman, your county commissioners, that includes everyone. Okay, everyone,
But we're going to start off tonight with an exclusive
report that I had exclusive report and your year it
here on during the newscast on WBT and you also
(02:36):
if you would see it on my X account at
Brett Underscore Jensen and I'm just going to read you
what I posted on X. By the way, it's gone
viral in two hours. I have obtained documents that show
the City of Charlotte paid out ninety nine ninety nine
(02:59):
dollars to a seven year lawsuit brought forth by Lance Patterson,
who is the husband of new CMPD chief Estella Patterson.
By the way, she gets sworn in on Friday she
started work today, but she basically will get sworn in
on Friday. So I want to make sure you guys
understand that the husband of the new CMPD chief had
(03:20):
their lawsuits settled for ninety nine thousand, nine and ninety
nine dollars. That number is is a significant amount because
City Manager Marcus Jones doesn't have to gain city council
approval for anything less than one hundred thousand dollars. So
think about that. For a second, one hundred thousand dollars
(03:44):
or more, you have to get approval from elected officials.
Nine thousand dollars ninety nine and ninety nine dollars or less,
you can just struck a check. So he wrote it
for the exact the most maximum amount to settle this
lawsuit to the husband of the new CMPD chief. And
we already know what happened with the last CMPD chief
(04:06):
and that secret payout that city council tried to do,
specifically Attorney Anthony Fox. So Jones went to the very
limit of what he could approve to pay without elected
officials having to know. The payout of ninety nine, nine
hundred and ninety nine dollars is divided into two parts. Patterson,
(04:32):
he will get forty thousand dollars, while his legal team
at James mcelroyin deal will receive the majority at fifty nine,
nine and ninety nine dollars. So his attorney's got sixty
percent of the payout for a seven year lawsuit, and
somebody I had lawyers to say, that seems like a
(04:53):
very very hefty amount. Usually something like this, the lawyers
might get a third of the settlement, so one hundred
thousand dollars payout. The lawyers might usually get thirty three
thousand dollars, but this was a seven year lawsuit, so
their attorney fees were probably way more than the fifty
(05:15):
nine nine ninety nine dollars that they wound up getting.
So a seven year lawsuit based on racial discrimination, racial harassment,
and racial retaliation that he foled against the City of
Charlotte as well as claims multiple claims that his First Amendment.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Rights were violated.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
The City of Charlotte fought this lawsuit for years, seven
years to be exact. It was scheduled to go to court.
I believe this week. I think December fourth, which I
think was Thursday. I believe it, but I believe it
was scheduled to go to court this week in federal court. Okay,
(06:01):
he followed Title seven. He filed the lawsuit under title seven.
You've heard of Title nine with the women in Athletic
sports and equalness. This was Title seven under discrimination based
on color or sex. So let me give you the
timeline of events. On October fourteenth, Lance Patterson agreed to
(06:27):
the settlement. October twenty first, City Manager Marcus Jones signed
off on the settlement October thirty first. Estella Patterson, Lance
Patterson's wife, Estella Patterson, is named new CMPD chief on
October thirty first. November three, Estella Patterson has her press conference,
(06:51):
at which point someone with the works for the city
came up to me and said, I had to be
honest with you. I thought you were going to ask
about the lawsuit during the press conference. It was her
introductory press conference to the City of Charlotte. On November fourteenth,
North Carolina Auditor Dave Bollock asked the City of Charlotte
about details of the payout, and then Wednesday, the day
(07:15):
before Thanksgiving, at about six pm, the city Council is
told by the city attorney what the payouts were. In
the deal in all the particulars I want you to
think about that. At six pm, a after working hours,
(07:37):
at six pm on five point fifty three pm to
be exact, sent out the email to the city council
members explaining what had happened and the transactions the day
before Thanksgiving, after everyone's already gone home for the day,
(07:58):
to maybe hope no one will see it. I've told
you this many times. If you ever see a press
release go out at like four point thirty four o'clock
four forty five on a Friday, that means they're hoping
that no one sees it and that it's buried because
by the time Monday rolls around, nobody will care and
(08:19):
everyone will have moved on to the next news cycle.
So I posted this on X with actual screenshots of
the actual documents and the lawsuit settlement and everything else, right,
so you can go to my ex account and look
it up and in two hours I've posted it at
three point fifty nine, to be exact, And in two
(08:43):
hours and sixteen minutes it already has thirty five thousand views,
one hundred and sixty retweets, three hundred and sixty nine likes,
and thirty seven comments. That's two hours and thirteen or
sixteen minutes. Yeah, people are interested in this, to say
(09:06):
the least. And we got a lot more stuff to
talk about as well. Welcome back to Breaking with Brett
Jensen on this Monday night. In case you're just joining us.
Coming up in about ten minutes from now, David Willis,
(09:28):
North Carolina state representative out of Union County to discuss
what the arenas of risk of the law is because
he's the one that helped vote it, put it into law,
and it went into effect today, So we'll get into
all that state law deals with criminals and magistrates and
judges and everything. So we'll get into that. And also
today was the first day if you want to file
for your candidacy to run for office in twenty twenty
(09:50):
six county commissioners. That also includes Congressman Senators Michael Whalley,
Roy Cooper, that also includes state representatives like David Willis
state senators. So you have from today until a couple
of Fridays from now December nineteenth at twelve o'clock twelve
(10:14):
o'clock noon, that's the deadline on December nineteenth to file
for election. And we'll get into some of that in
a little bit, But I want to continue the discussion
of the news that I broke about two hours and
twenty five minutes ago on X You hear it in
the newscasts, but also just to spend a lot of
time talking about it here in the first part of
(10:36):
the show, explaining what was going on where the City
of Charlotte paid out the husband of the new CMPD
chief paid out ninety nine nine ninety nine dollars. Well, Brett,
why did they do that? Well, Lance Patterson is worked
(10:56):
at the Charlotte Fire Department, or I should say works
at the Charlotte Fire Department at least until December thirty first.
Part of the settlement was that he agrees to resive
or retire on December thirty first, and he agreed to that. Well,
the reason also they paid the ninety ninety nine dollars
(11:19):
is because anything less than one hundred thousand dollars the
city manager can just do on his own. He doesn't
have to inform the city council. Yes, the mayor and
all that, but not city council. City council, Nope, didn't
have to tell him, didn't have to tell him anything. Now,
you should probably be obliged to do so, because the
(11:41):
city council can is your boss, not the mayor. City
of council is the one that can hire you and
fire you. Same thing with the city manager, city attorney,
county manager, county attorney.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
So a lot going on there.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
But speaking of city council, there we go. So tonight
as we speak, the new city council was sworn in.
Jd arius is one of the people sworn in. And
I will just tell you almost every single person that
(12:18):
I spoke to, Republican or Democrat, believes jd Arias is
a communist. And I'm not even trying to be funny.
I'm being straight up communist, minimal socialist at the least
a socialist like the new Mandami up there in DC.
Not even joking. He worked, He came here as an
(12:39):
illegal immigrant, got a scholarship at Queen's University in Charlotte.
What's cms scholarship at Queen's University? They look universities like
to give scholarships to foreign born people. They do, and
he was foreign born. And he goes up and he
(13:01):
works for AOC for a long time or for a while,
and basically is wants to be the second coming of Mondami,
not even joking, like I'm being straight legit. So now
you have the first socialist on the Charlotte City Council.
(13:21):
When I tell you, every single day, Charlotte is getting
worse Charlotte, Charlotte. If you are anything but a democrat,
Charlotte is dead to you. Charlott's dead to you. You
will have no say so. And how things are operated
in the city of Charlotte zero. Charlotte, with each passing
(13:43):
day is becoming more like Baltimore, Memphis, New Orleans, Saint Louis, Detroit.
Every day crime is rising and the city keeps taking
a downturn because the elected politicians have this delusion of grandeur.
(14:04):
And Seattle's been ruined, Portland's been ruined, San Francisco's been ruined,
LA's been ruined. New York is now ruined with a socialist,
an actual yes, I am a socialist. Seattle just selected
a socialist. Look at the representatives coming out of Minnesota, Ilain, Omar,
for God's sakes. But in city council tonight you have
(14:30):
people fighting to become mayor pro tem, which essentially the
vice mayor. You got three people Dimpleajh mayor was the
highest vote getter. Usually they give it to the highest
vote getterer. She was the highest vote getter last time,
and the city council members wanted no part of her
being the vice mayor Mayor pro tem. Smudgie Mitchell is
(14:51):
the other candidate that you're hearing no show. Smudgie never
shot ups ever did a big thing on him, how
he just wouldn't show up to meetings, and now he
may be the mayor pro tem. Maybe that's one way
to get him to actually show up to meetings. And
Dante Anderson the previous or current but current pro tem
(15:13):
Mayor pro tem. But where it is a lot of
people don't like her because they don't think that she's
hard enough on the mayor, disagrees with the mayor enough.
The mayor pro tem should disagree with the mayor. It should,
But when you're all in a silo together city council,
half like the mayor, half don't like the mayor. And
now there's this battle within city council. So we'll be
(15:34):
interesting to see who gets the mayor pro tem tonight.
All right, when we come back, Representative David Willis will
be joining us to talk about the arenas the risk
of law that went into effect across the state today.
Welcome back to Breaking with Brett Jensen on this what
do we got Monday night? Monday Night of Breaking with
(15:55):
bred Jensen, as we go up until seven o'clock. Okay,
so we're already way way way way late, like like
way late, like stupidly five minutes past or four minutes
past when we should be coming back to you. So
but even with that said, so I'm just gonna let
Pam Warner know that we're gonna be a little bit
(16:15):
late here because I've got an interview coming up with
North Carolina State Representative David Willis.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
First of all, I want to say thanks for joining us.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
And second of all, the Arena Zeruska law went into
effect today, and so let's get into the very bare
basics of it. You know, she was here in Charlotte
when she got murdered, and you guys created a new
law for her. So just in the bare bone basics,
can you explain what the Arena Zaruska law is and
how are how are things different today than they were
over the weekend or last Friday or any day going
(16:45):
backwards so.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
Bred there's a number of moving parts uh in there,
and it's kind of hard to just uh, you know,
oversimplify it. But in essence, it's gonna deal with cashlest bail.
It's gonna deal with you know, pre try releases for
violent offenders and a number of different instances. It's it's
remodifying or re designing what is considered uh, you know,
(17:09):
violent offense in certain cases, taking a lot of this
I guess judgment, if you will, out of the hands
of maybe an untrained or an un I guess an
unexperienced uh magistrate or a judge to really require them
to keep these violent offenders off the streets, uh, and
(17:30):
and really put the burden back on uh, you know,
the jails to keep these folks and keep them, keep
them out of our streets, and keep them, you know,
keep the folks of of Charlotte in North Carolina safe.
You know, there's a number of things that that we've
seen over the years where uh, you know, it's just
been more of a political theater than it has been
a real judicial system or a judicial process playing out
(17:51):
with these and you've had magistrates and judges who have
taken it upon themselves kind of determine what they want
to do with uh, with a number of these folks.
And so while there's always been sort of a matrix,
if you will, that they were intended to follow based
on the severity of the crimes, we had a lot
of folks that were pushing the envelope in that area
(18:11):
and we saw the ramifications of that, not just with
the arena, but a number of victims across Charlotte in
the past year. And it's just it's time for you know,
those folks to be held accountable and to be on
the magistrates side and the judicial side as well as
those committing these pinous acts. And we've got to, you know,
find the right balance of course between you know, innocent
(18:33):
before proven guilty. But at the same time, you know,
we we've got to get folks who we know are
a danger to society office streets.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Speaking with North Kunina State Representative David Willis out of
Union County. So last week there was a lot of
information coming out saying that, hey, jails are about to
be overcrowded with all these new inmates that won't be
able to be released back into the streets. Is that
a real problem? Have you heard about that, and or
is this like just something that's completely made up and
(19:01):
not a real issue.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
I think it's a non issue. I mean, I think
if you look and actually I saw some of the
sheriff's comments about that, and I think it's laughable given
the number of folks who have been uh you know,
released early, the number of folks who have had serious
crimes in Mecklenburg County just reduced to a slap on
the wrist. I mean, it's it's laughable.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
And I think it's you know, we've got the worst
sheriff in North Carolina, uh, you know, complaining about politics
and about the lack of funding for this, but the
reality is him been doing their job for years and
and you look at the leadership at the city of
the county level. Uh you know, they closed the jail facility.
Uh you know maybe when they they're they're concerned about
staffing and some of these other issues. The issue, not
(19:45):
you know, doesn't lie necessarily with the general Assembly, lies
directly with the leadership.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
And when you've got you know, city leaders calling police
officers domestic terrorists and uh, you know, them them refusing
to comply with ICE in this I mean they've they've
been you know, avoiding their job and the responsibility they
have to protect the citizens of Charlotte in North Carolina
for years, and I think it's just another missuh direction
by them to fail because they fail to do their job.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Speaking of North count of state represented, David willis out
of Union County. So last week I talked about the
spillover effect from the criminals in Mecklenburg County and how
the crime element is getting to the surrounding counties, so
specifically with Union County.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
How do the residents feel safe there?
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Do you think do they think, you know, they are
they worried about the spillover effect from Mecklinburg County. And
then also I guess maybe just across the state when
you speak to your colleagues up in Raleigh, do their
constituents feel safe? Do they feel like crime is getting
out of control across the whole state?
Speaker 4 (20:44):
Well, you know, so from a Union County side, I
feel very safe. I think most of our folks down here,
you know, feel like we're you know, we live in
a good, safe environment and our folks hold people accountable.
They're not scared to fill up the jail if it
needs to be and you know, and take people to trial.
You know, in Mecklenburg, you've got a number of folks
who were just slapped on the wrist and let out
before the PaperWorks even finished. And so you've got repeat
(21:07):
criminals that have just been in Bold and I think
some of that was you know, and I'll blame the
legislative process a little bit on that. Going back to
the raised the age laws. I mean, we had a
number of well intended but I guess just bad judgment
calls made on you know, changing some of those laws
and trying to keep more people out of jail. And
what it's done is in Bold and especially the younger
(21:29):
individuals in the juvenile space, because they just you know,
they just get slap on the wrist and sit back
to their parents and instead of being held accountable. And
so it's had the adverse effect on crime than they
you know, the so called experts that predicted that it
would have. And we've got more more and more youth
getting involved in crimes. We've got more serious crimes happening,
(21:51):
you know, from these kids and they just you know,
they learned that there's you know, not going to be
any ramifications to their actions, and you know, by the
time they get to be an adult, what happens then, right,
And so you know, we've just seen it across the
board the last few years. We've closed some of those
loopholes and re uh you know, re visited the laws
that were I think premature and and kind of made
(22:14):
a lot of those more serious felonies and looking at
when you know, an adolescent can be charged as an
adult again. And we're kind of fixing some of those wrongs.
But I think we do see a lot of spillover
from Mecklinburgh County. You hear it not just from us
in Union, but you know Caberras and Gaston and you
know the other surrounding counties. I mean, we we all
feel that, you know, folks coming in and out of Charlotte,
(22:36):
uh and and you know, doing crimes in in in
Union County and about. And you know our rise to
them is, you know, stay in Mecklenburg and you know
you're gonna get put in jail here in Union County.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
North Carolina Representative David Willis, is there anything else that
you'd like to say to the listeners tonight.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
Well, I think one of the parallels to this too,
Brett Is. I mean, we do need to talk about
mental health and and that comes up as a lot
of this, you know, gets discussed, and I think we
take a lot of heat and Raleigh for avoiding or
not really addressing the mental health side of that. And
I think part of the law that you're going to
see really does address the mental health side of this
requires folks to do a thorough evaluation with an intake
(23:17):
specialist and someone that can really evaluate where these folks
need to be, whether it's in a facility or in
a prison, you know, in the short term, and then
really trying to evaluate what their long term needs are
and how we either go through the judicial system or
the mental health side of this. But you know, we
we have paid great deal of attention to the mental
health crisis that's happening. I think we need to do
(23:38):
more of that as we move forward. But it's something
that we have included in this and it's something not
to be overlooked.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
North Carolina Representative David Willis again out of Union County.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
I really do appreciate your time tonight.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Thank you, sir, have a great day all right.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Again, thanks to David Willis side of Union County. And
so again Rita's the Risco's law goes in went into
effect today. Cash less bail gone. You are a violent offender.
You now actually have to have a bail. And now
there's going to be guidelines and criteria for jail for
judges and magistrates to have to follow. Welcome back to
(24:20):
franking with Brett Jenson a few more minutes here on
this Monday night, told Jay it was jam packed. Started
off with the story that I broke at four o'clock
today about another about the details of another secret payout,
this one to the newly named police chief's husband, Lance Patterson.
Ninety nine and ninety nine dollars. Why was it that
(24:43):
odd of a number, because anything less than one hundred thousand,
city manager can just struck a check without having to
get approval from the city council or even having to
tell the city council, and forty thousand of it will
go to Lance Patterson sixty thousand, well technically fifty ninety
nine dollars we'll go to his law firm. So a
(25:05):
seven year lawsuit and you got forty k. You got
forty k over seven years, almost seven years to the
day like it was six years and eleven months. And
then this I told you about the city council tonight
in Charlotte. They're trying to pick their mayor pro tem.
(25:26):
That is going to be a knockdown, drag out dimple
Ashmero went down did not get it last time, much
to her chagrin. And even though she was like the
top vote getter, which usually goes to the mayor pro
tem goes to the top vote getter of the at large,
she was also the top voote getter again this time.
(25:48):
And people apparently are unhappy with Renee. But maybe she'll
get it. Maybe she excuse me, Dante, not Renee Dante Anderson.
She was mayor pro tawm, but people think that she's
too buddy buddy with the mayor. So now it Smudgie
Mitchell no show. Smudgie missed a ton of meetings. Maybe
(26:15):
mayor pro tem this will get him to be a
way to actually show up to the meetings on a
regular basis now, because you're one of the ones that
like puts forth the agenda, so you have to show
up for that. And then today is the day the
Arenas of Risk of Law goes into effect. Had David
Willis North Kinta State or North Carolina Representative North kind
of state Representative David Willis out of Union County to
(26:37):
talk about what the arenas of riskal law means and
the impact that we will have going forward. I told
you earlier. Today is the first day of filing for
twenty twenty six elections. Okay, twenty twenty six elections. Today
was the first day for filing. You have until December
nineteenth and twelve o'clock to file. People have already in
(26:58):
Mecklimore County of already started filing, and a lot of
them were the incumbents that are already in office. Not
a big surprise there. You know, you've got like George
Dunlap filed for candidate for a county commissioner. Another Democrat,
Phil Carey, filed to run against him, you know, county
(27:21):
commissioners like You've got all these people that are running.
Look Laura Budd State representative out of one O three
that apparently doesn't know what a woman is, even though
I think she is one.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
But you know what happens when you assume. You know
what happens when you assume.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
But anyways, But the one name that stood out to
me the name and I don't know, there's like maybe
a dozen or so people that filed today and more
like I said, you have until December nineteenth, But the
name that stood.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Out to me is Ridney Collins. Ridney Collins people announce,
I mean, before I tell you who he is, People
announce all the time that they're running for office, and
then two or three months go by and either a
during that two or three months, they can't raise money,
(28:14):
or they get cold feed, or they know that they
can't win and they don't. So I wasn't sure if
he was going to actually file. People do this all
the time. Family doesn't want them to whatever. Well, Rodney
Collins filed today, and there have been four or five
(28:34):
people announced that they're running for Mecklimber County share, including
Gary McFadden, who had made that announcement right here on
my show. So he's trying to Gary McFadden's trying to
get elected for the third time. But Rodney Collins was
the right hand man, number two in charge at the
Mecklinberre County Shriff's Department for many many years. He retired
(29:00):
and now he's running for sheriff, and that's going to
be interesting to see how that turns out. And I
promise you Rodney Collins will be on this show and
as others file for that race. That's going to be
one of the biggest local races that we have. There
(29:21):
are going to be some House seats and some Senate seats.
House you know, yes, the North County are the federal Senate, yes,
with Wally and Cooper. But I'm talking about like Mecklimurre
County Senate seats or Senate seats for the state of
North Carolina, local representatives out of North Mecklimbore County, local
representatives on the House side out of Mecklimore County, like
(29:43):
Tricia Cotham's race, or up there in the Huntersville area
District ninety eight. What's going to happen in District forty
two on the Senate side here in Mecklimore County. So
while those three races will be needed to be watched,
what happens in the Mecklimburg County sheriff's race is going
to be extremely interesting and we will be getting or
(30:09):
I will be getting all those candidates on this show.
I promise you. I promise you that. So Rodney Collins
went through with it. Kudos to Rodney. It takes a
lot of guts to want to do that. Like even
if you lose by a you know, twenty thousand votes,
(30:32):
or whether you win by twenty thousand votes, it still
takes a lot to put yourself out there, and it
takes a lot for the family and everything else. So
when you decide to run for office, kudos. It's a lot.
Even if you have no chance, it's a lot. Even
if you are a guaranteed winner, it's a lot. So
kudos to Ridney Collins. I've known Rodney. Rodney was little
(30:53):
to be the very first person I ever met at
the Melimber County Sheriff's office, and that was in twenty nineteen.
So I've known Rodney since twenty nineteen, almost the exact
same time when I met Gary McFadden. So we will
get Ridney Collins on the show at some point. But again,
(31:13):
you have nineteen days to file to run for election
in twenty twenty six. All right, everyone, TJ. Ritchie is
coming up next for a full, glorious two hour show.
I'm hoping that he's gonna unleash the dogs tonight. That's
what I'm hoping. All right, everyone, So until tomorrow night,
my name is Brett Jensen and you have been listening
to Breaking with Brett Jensen
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.