By Cleve R. Wootson Jr.
The Charlotte Observer
CHARLOTTE — A man whom police believe stole pricey car parts last year barricaded himself inside a northwest Charlotte home Tuesday, keeping the police SWAT team at bay for nearly four hours before they broke in and arrested him.
Around 2 p.m., officers from the department’s North division were trying to serve a warrant on Charles Hall at a home on Sugar Creek Road just west of Nevin Road.
Hall, however, wouldn’t come out. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police spokesman Officer Robert Fey said the SWAT team was called because of Hall’s violent criminal past, including arrests for armed robbery and carrying a concealed weapon by a felon.
Officers brought in a bulletproof SWAT tactical vehicle and paramedics waited nearby, moving closer just before officers went in.
No one was held hostage in the house and neither the arresting officers nor Hall were injured during the arrest. Fey said Hall didn’t fight officers, and described the suspect’s actions as “passive resistance.”
He was in Mecklenburg jail Tuesday night, charged with stealing four catalytic converters.
The converters contain precious metals used to help filter pollution from car exhaust. The parts cost hundreds of dollars and officers have been cracking down on criminals who crawl under cars to steal them.
CMPD records showed that the 41-year-old Hall has been arrested close to 50 times.
A court records search conducted by the Observer contained 25 pages of charges for Hall dating back to 1984.
He’s been convicted of crimes from selling liquor without a license to selling cocaine to ethnic intimidation. In 2005, he was convicted of assault on a government employee and required by a judge to write a letter of apology to the officer involved.
In 2003, he went to prison for two years after being convicted of possessing stolen goods.
Copyright 2008 The Charlotte Observer