A Whiteville mayoral candidate said in an Instagram reel in June that she was targeted by a restaurant patron who used influence and tried to have her arrested by Whiteville Police.
Brittany Payne is on the ballot challenging incumbent Terry Mann and newcomers Mike Schachnuk and Brandon Acker. City Councilman Josh Harris is reportedly staging a write-in campaign, but has not responded to requests for comment.
In the post, which was made before she filed to run for mayor, Payne accuses Whiteville Police of attempting to arrest her illegally while she and three friends were drinking and having dinner in a local restaurant, where they spent $1,000 that evening, according to Payne’s post. The two couples were not taken into custody. A search of Whiteville Police logs for the date Payne made the video does not show a call to the restaurant.
In a June 14 Instagram post, Payne said she was at San Juan restaurant in Whiteville with her fiancé and another couple when another patron, whom she described as a “fat jackass” at a nearby table “called the law”. Payne said the individual apparently didn’t like the way “we were conducting ourselves,” and called 911. Payne said Whiteville Police tried to arrest both couples “after we done spent a thousand dollars” at the bar.
“Here comes the police trying to arrest us,” she said in the video. “Entrapment. Can you say entrapment?
“Let me tell you what entrapment looks like. It looks like people who know people come to an establishment to have other people arrested because they didn’t like how they were conducting themselves.”
Payne said her fiancé’s father was a bounty hunter, and the fiancé “laid down the law” to the officers. She does not make it clear in the video what the couples were alleged to have done. Payne said the owner of the restaurant had “no problem” with the couples.
“That is entrapment,” she said in the video. “Whiteville Police ain’t s—, once again. Y’all can’t get people illegally. Period. And we ain’t drunk, mother——.” Payne then holds up her middle finger toward the camera.
Neither Payne nor Whiteville Police have returned a request for comment.
This is a developing story.
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