On Wednesday, town leaders in Chapel Hill and Carrboro engaged in a back and forth with the Orange County District Attorney about how to handle
demonstrators arrested on Tuesday
as part of UNC’s large pro-Palestinian protests.
Those town councilmembers issued a statement criticizing the actions of UNC campus police and calling on DA Jeff Nieman to dismiss all charges.
“We strongly condemn this overreaction by the UNC administration,” the statement read. “Chapel Hill and Carrboro Police were not involved in this action.”
But in an interview with ABC11 Wednesday night, Nieman said it’s not that simple.
“Two days after the arrest, when the evidence hasn’t even been compiled yet, just too early for anybody to make a determination about whether the cases should be prosecuted,” he said.
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Nieman said he hasn’t been able to review the evidence in the cases of those charged yet, and dismissing charges unilaterally would be premature. He also stressed that town councilmembers, while well-intentioned, were operating with incomplete information until more details are gathered and reviewed.