Feb. 7—TRIAD — A minister with ties to High Point has been acquitted of criminal charges stemming from a 2020 confrontation in Alamance County during which people at an early voting rally were doused with pepper spray by law enforcement officers.

Days before the 2020 election, the Graham Police Department and Alamance County Sheriff’s Department made national headlines when officers sprayed tear gas and pepper spray directly in the faces of people at the rally, and others, including the family of George Floyd. Sheriff Terry Johnson ordered the crowd to disperse and soon began arresting people.

Police said the crowd was blocking the right of way on a street. Rally organizers said they weren’t trying to disrupt traffic and the officers overreacted.

Among those arrested was the Rev. Greg Drumwright, one of the leaders of the rally. Drumwright now lives in Greensboro but previously has served as an associate pastor at a High Point church, taught at High Point University, in 2018 was a candidate for a Guilford County Board of Education seat representing parts of High Point, and last year narrowly lost his Democratic primary bid for the at-large seat for the Guilford County Board of Commissioners.

Drumwright was charged with assault with physical injury on a law enforcement officer, obstruction of justice, obstructing and delaying an officer and misdemeanor failure to disperse on command.

In a prepared statement after the jury’s verdict, Drumwright’s organization, Justice 4 the Next Generation, noted that the court ruled there was insufficient evidence to show Drumwright and those with him were engaged in unruly or illegal conduct at the time of the dispersal command.

“This means Sheriff Johnson’s commands to disperse were unlawful. We hope Drumwright’s case will serve as a guide for law enforcement to consider as it encounters other peaceful demonstrations,” it said. “Today’s verdict, in addition to the three related civil cases where Alamance County has already reached settlements with March demonstrators, delivers another striking blow to Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson and Graham Police Chief Kristy Cole for the brutal force their departments used against peaceful voters and other J4tNG’s March to the Polls supporters.”

The statement said that minorities in Alamance County face disproportionate criminal charges and it called for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate.