CHARLOTTE, N.C.: A prosecutor has declined to charge five North Carolina police officers accused of not giving immediate medical attention to a Black man who died after fatally ingesting drugs right before he was taken into custody.
District Attorney Spencer Merriweather III said in a Monday report to the State Bureau of Investigation that prosecutors could not file involuntary manslaughter charges against the Charlotte-Mecklenburg officers because they would not be able to prove that Harold Easter, after eating a large amount of crack cocaine, would have lived even if he had received immediate medical attention.
Officers who were conducting a drug investigation against Easter, 41, tried to conduct a traffic stop on the car he was driving on Jan. 23. Authorities say that during a low-speed pursuit, Easter ate a large…