Charlotte judge allegedly shoves delivery driver in parking lot altercation | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the Carolina Journal. The author of this post is CJ Staff.

    Charlotte Superior Court Judge Kimberly Best was involved in an altercation that, according to a Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office incident report, resulted in Best pushing and shouting at a delivery driver.

    Best is currently running for Superior Court Judge in Charlotte after having been appointed to that position by Gov. Roy Cooper in 2021.

    No charges were filed in the incident, but the events recorded in the incident report show that on July 19, 2022 at 9:20am, a delivery truck was partially blocking the entrance to the parking garage at the Mecklenburg County Courthouse. Driving a white Porche SUV, witnesses say Best tried to go around the truck but scraped the side of her vehicle. Best then exited her vehicle and she and the delivery driver, Meagan Gunter, got into a shouting match for which law enforcement authorities were called.

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    Strategic Officer Larry Goodman was directing traffic around the truck at the time and called authorities for backup when the altercation led to Best pushing Gunter. In the report, Best admitted to police that she "forced the delivery driver back."

    The incident report states that during the altercation, Gunter tried to take a photo of Best's license plate and Best slapped the phone out of her hand and pushed her. Gunter told police that she was not going to file charges against Best. The report shows that other witnesses were hesitant to offer statements on the incident.

    "The driver got out of the SUV and started yelling at the delivery driver," Goodman said in his statement. "By the time I made it to the back of the truck they were both nose to nose. I stepped in between to separate them. They both continued to yell at one another. I told the driver that she needed to leave, but she refused at first. The situation was out of control, so I called for assistance."

    According to her campaign website, Best is a native of Detroit, attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor for her undergraduate degree, Indiana University Law School for her Juris Doctorate, and UNC-Charlotte for her MBA.

    An email requesting comment from Judge Kimberly Best's campaign was not responded to by press time.