As Charlotte weighs expanded teen curfew, local football players say ‘Do it.’
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This month, the Charlotte City Council could vote on a proposal that would place a 9 p.m. curfew for anybody under 18 years old.
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At a high school media day last week at West Mecklenburg, some of the city’s top football players had a message for the council:
Go ahead and do it.
“We need it,” Myers Park quarterback Ramir Watson said. “There’s just a lot of people thinking they’re grown, and it’s getting to a point where it’s getting ridiculous.”
Charlotte already has an existing curfew, under a Youth Protection Ordinance, that says kids under the age of 13 — not with a parent, guardian or someone 21 or older — cannot be in a public place or business from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m.
The same rule applies for kids 13-15, except their curfew runs from 11 p.m. until 6 a.m. the next day.
But the city council is considering a sweeping change due to an uptick in issues involving teenagers.
In recent months, the city has dealt with several “teen takeovers” where young people have gathered in large groups in public spaces. These events have disrupted traffic and caused damage to property and businesses.
During the Fourth of July celebrations in uptown Charlotte last month, Charlotte police made 39 arrests. Of those 39, 21 were juveniles ranging in age from 10 to 17. The offenses for the youth included fighting, carrying concealed weapons and resisting arrest.
In response to incidents like these, the council named a special safety committee to try to deal with the problem. That committee advanced a proposal to expand the curfew to run 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. for anyone under 18, with some exceptions.
The full council could vote on whether to implement those changes at its next meeting, scheduled for Aug. 10.
“There is a problem,” Hough senior Jahmere Anderson said. “The city is going wild. There are a lot of young people being violent. I feel like we need to come to some peace. I see a lot of young people being shot. Go pick up a ball. There’s a lot of opportunities to get your (college) paid for, and you can get life-changing money. I mean, put down the violence and go pick up a ball.”
The Observer spoke to more than 30 football players at the Greater Charlotte conference media day last week. The players represented Garinger, Hopewell, Hough, Myers Park, South Mecklenburg and West Mecklenburg.
Only three players felt a curfew wasn’t needed, but nearly all of them said more activities for teenagers were.
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They said young people just don’t have many places to go — or many things to do.
“Too much goes on for no reason,” said West Mecklenburg’s Martiques Taylor. “We’re supposed to be enjoying being outside together. We should be setting an example. But there’s really nothing for us to do. We need to have community events and organized events with CMPD to make it more efficient. I don’t understand (the takeovers). I don’t know what’s going through their minds. I wasn’t raised like that.”
Hopewell head coach Brandon Sneed remembers being a teenager, going to the skating rink and to the movies, even teen-focused parties with parental supervision.
Sneed feels those types of things aren’t available as much now.
“We are missing activities for kids to do,” he said, “and kids are not active enough right now. And they don’t have anywhere to go. A 16-year-old needs to be independent enough to go out on their own. It should be low consequence. I don’t want to see anyone in trouble, but you might have to be stricter on enforcement. You might have to arrest people. It’s definitely a difficult question.”
Last month, Hough High School’s Jamarion Morrison broke his family curfew, hanging out with his cousins until 5 in the morning. His mother sent a text to him and to his coach, DeShawn Baker while he was out.
Baker was selected to lay down the punishment.
He had Morrison do a grueling series of body movements on the football field, commonly called “Bear Crawls” or “Rolls.”
Morrison quickly got the message.
He doesn’t plan to break curfew anymore, and he thinks the city having one is a very good thing.
“Everybody wants to be tough,” he said. “The takeovers are just to have fun, but it’s getting out of hand. Having a lot of people at the spot can lead to problems. The terrorizing needs to stop.”
A common theme, among the players and coaches, was that the curfew is a good idea, but a later cutoff would be even better.
Most preferred 10 p.m., but wanted to make sure high school events wouldn’t be affected if the youngsters were accompanied by an adult.
“Half of these teenagers don’t know how to act,” said Myers Park’s Kam Guy. “They act different around their parents and then make it seem like their parents aren’t raising them the right way, and I know half of their parents are raising them the right way. They’re trying to impress everybody. They think it’s cool, and everybody tries to be hard and everything, and there’s no point in that.”
Baker, the Hough High coach, said these teenagers need to consider the consequences of their actions. And he believes a curfew would be helpful in preventing many issues that have been arising.
“These kids are running crazy,” he said. “Like why is a 16-year-old out at 11, 12 o’clock at night? Why are you not at home? A lot of parents have a lot of leeway with their kids these days. Nine o’clock is long enough to be out for a 16-year-old. What else are you doing? I think that’s why a lot of people get into trouble and get hurt, for no reason, trying to be grown at a young age. But when you get grown, those bills start, and they don’t stop. You might as well be a kid for as long as you can.”
Read more As Charlotte weighs expanded teen curfew, local football players say ‘Do it.’
This story was originally published August 2, 2026 at 6:00 AM.
