‘Enough Is Enough’: Suspect Accused Of Hitting Cop With Car Walks Free On $3K Bond
A North Carolina woman is accused of hitting a police officer with her car — but she was released on a $3,000 bail just hours after her arrest.Tanaezah Michelle Austin, 25, is facing charges of assault with a deadly weapon against a government official in connection with a street takeover early Sunday morning in northwest Charlotte, Fox News reported.Officers responded to reports of cars doing donuts in a commercial parking lot at 3:25 a.m. on March 1, according to the outlet. One officer approached a black Kia Optima that was trying to leave. The driver stopped at first, but “began to accelerate rapidly” and struck the officer, who rolled over the hood.The officer was in full uniform, giving verbal commands to stop and standing where the driver could clearly see him, Fox News said. He was taken to a hospital and treated for minor injuries.Video of the incident posted to X shows the officer in front of the car before it accelerates toward him and drives away. The X post incorrectly identifies the driver as a man.Austin was arrested March 2 and released early on March 3, with a probable cause hearing scheduled for March 24.“These are among the worst of the worst incidents that we have to deal with in Charlotte,” Dan Redford, president of the Charlotte Fraternal Order of Police, told Fox News. “To see a $3,000 bond for an offender, regardless of whether she has a criminal history or not, when the intent to flee was clearly there, is pathetic.”The $3,000 bond means Austin may have needed to pay just $300 to be released, Randy Sutton, a retired police lieutenant, told the outlet. Sutton founded The Wounded Blue, a nonprofit that supports injured and disabled law enforcement officers.“When I hear about someone being released on a $3,000 bond for running over a police officer on video, it boggles my mind,” Sutton said. “She ran over a cop, and she walked out.”Sutton said the incident wasn’t an accident.“She saw him, he was communicating with her, and then she just gunned the car toward him,” Sutton said. “This could have been a fatal encounter.”Austin faced misdemeanor marijuana and paraphernalia charges in 2025, but they were later dropped, Fox News reported.U.S. Rep. Mark Harris criticized the bond decision.“Running over a police officer is of the highest level of evil,” Harris said in a statement, according to Fox News. “It’s also a complete slap in the face for our brave law enforcement to see these kinds of criminals allowed right back on the streets. When is Charlotte going to end the crime cycle? When are magistrates going to keep bad guys behind bars? Enough is enough!”The case comes as cities across the U.S. are seeing a rise in violent criminals being released with low or no bond.Charlotte made headlines last year with the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, whose alleged killer had been arrested and released 14 times, The Daily Wire reported at the time.In Chicago, Illinois, a 50-year-old man, who had been arrested 72 times since he was 18, allegedly set a woman on fire in the subway in November. He had most recently been arrested three months earlier, when he was charged with aggravated battery, NBC News reported.In a more recent incident in Brooklyn, a man was arrested after allegedly stalking and attacking an Orthodox Jewish family. He was freed on supervised release, despite being charged with assault and multiple counts of harassment as a hate crime and the district attorney’s request for a $50,000 cash bail, The Daily Wire reported at the time.
