By Shavonne Potts
spotts@salisburypost.com
Lynda Carson had worked a long shift as a nurse at the Hefner VA Medical Center. She never imagined that by the next morning she’d be sitting in a county jail cell with 24 other women.
On Jan. 23, Carson arrived at her Dove Meadow Drive home around midnight. Two hours later, she heard a knock at the door.
“I was wondering who it could be when I see there’s a female cop,” Carson said.
The officer at the door was Rowan County Sheriff’s Deputy J.R. Wietbrock, who asked for Joseph Carson, Lynda’s husband.
The deputy told Carson she had a warrant for Joseph’s arrest on failure to appear in court for a traffic violation ó driving while license revoked.
“Wait right here. I’ll go get him,” Carson told the deputy.
Carson said she began to close the door because of the cold when the deputy put her foot in the door.
Carson said Wietbrock told her she was going with her.
She said she told the officer, “you do not have a warrant to enter my home, your warrant is for Joseph. I’m going to get him now.”
“I’m not waiting,” Wietbrock told Carson.
Lynda Carson said she repeatedly asked the deputy to leave. She said Wietbrock threatened to arrest her.
The two headed to the couple’s bedroom where Lynda woke her husband.
While her husband was being handcuffed near the front door, Lynda went into the bedroom to put on clothes. By that time, the deputy had called for backup. Three deputies were outside on the front porch with Joseph Carson.
Lynda said she went back inside, locked the door and cried in her room.
“The next thing I know I hear voices in my house,” Carson said.
The deputies had kicked in her front door and were demanding to know if she had any weapons.
Carson, 57, said she was thrown to the floor, face-down with all three deputies’ feet or knees in her back.
She was handcuffed and taken out of the house, without shoes.
Carson was charged with misdemeanor resisting a public officer. She admits to trying to get up from the floor and trying to pull her arm free from the “tight handcuffs.”
She continued to ask questions as she was placed in a patrol vehicle.
She said one of the deputies told her, “If you don’t shut up we will charge you with harboring a fugitive.”
Carson said she did not know the identities of the other two deputies.
She asked them how they could say she was harboring a fugitive if it was not true.
“Oh well, that’s what we do and who would know?” Carson said one of the deputies told her.
Lynda Carson said she sat at the Rowan County Magistrates Office for several minutes before one of the deputies asked someone to get her a pair of flip-flops.
A short time later, Joseph Carson was led in by a deputy.
Joseph Carson gave his wife his house slippers and took the flip-flops.
Lynda Carson was given a $1,000 bond. Her husband was given a $750 bond.
She was booked into the jail and had her medical history taken.
Carson said she didn’t understand why they asked her repeatedly if she used drugs.
“I told them that the only medical issue I had was hypertension,” she said.
The booking officer asked if she was diabetic.
“I just told you I was not a diabetic,” Carson told the officer.
Another deputy told Carson her mouth was going to get her into trouble and placed Carson in a holding cell.
Carson requested a phone call, but was told she had her opportunity when she was first brought into the jail.
She said someone else was on the phone at that time.
Carson was given a county jumpsuit, a mattress, blanket and pillow.
“I realized at that moment this is really happening. They are putting me in jail. I only asked the officer to wait at the door,” she said.
The next morning, Carson got her phone call. She called her sister, Dorothy, who bailed her out of jail.
Carson filed a complaint Jan. 24 with the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office about her treatment.
When asked about the complaint, Rowan County Sheriff’s Capt. John Sifford confirmed the complaint and said it was being investigated.
“There’s no comment until the court disposition,” Sifford said.
Part of Carson’s complaint also was initiated by the “shocking” conditions she saw in the jail.
Carson said she understands there may be some who have no sympathy for inmates, but she added, “I just want to tell my story.”
“I found it to be dirty. They did not have towels. They took showers two at a time,” Carson said.
The Salisbury native said she was baffled by the conditions.
“I didn’t like it, but I got to see. What I saw, I didn’t like,” she said.
Carson said she did not see any reason why “any human being should be allowed to eat, sleep and poop in the same place.”
There were 16 bunk beds, she said.
The rest of the women, including two who were pregnant, slept on the floor.
“I hear about the renovations. A few years ago, Salisbury said they were redoing the jail. Please tell me what they have done,” Carson said.
Carson is seeking legal action.
“People are supposed to trust the men in blue. But they are putting innocent people in jail, telling lies, stripping people of their dignity, taking away their right to speak, only allowing them to speak if they want them to,” Carson said.
Carson received a letter Feb. 2 from Chief Deputy Steve Schenk of the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office.
In the letter, Schenk told Carson the events of the night in question meet the elements for the crime she was charged with. Carson said she disagrees.
The letter also said the office will not investigate her complaint until after her court date, “pending a finding from a judge.”
Carson was instructed in the letter that if she was found not guilty in court, then the complaint investigation will be reopened.
Her complaint about the jail conditions is also being investigated.
“I am pleased that if my complaint will benefit them at all, it was well worth it. I am happy that they are looking into the jail conditions,” Carson said.
Joseph Carson is set to appear in district court March 3. Lynda Carson is to appear in district court April 1.