Raleigh man with 40-plus convictions sparks downtown safety debate

A Facebook post in the Raleigh Downtown Community group reignited concern after it alleged that Brice Forman attacked the poster’s husband outside a downtown restaurant. The reaction was immediate because Forman is not being discussed as a one-time offender. Local reports say he has 38 mugshots on record and more than 40 convictions in North Carolina since 2010.

That record has turned Forman into a downtown flashpoint, especially in Glenwood South, where workers, restaurant managers and late-night customers have long dealt with repeat street-level disorder. The reported charges tied to Forman’s history include trespassing, assault, breaking and entering, breaking into motor vehicles, possession of drug paraphernalia, intoxication and disorderly conduct, panhandling and, in a more recent arrest, a concealed-weapon charge. For people who work near Fayetteville Street or spend evenings on Glenwood Avenue, the question is no longer just what Forman did most recently. It is how someone with that many prior contacts keeps ending up back in the same blocks.

The case has also exposed the gap between enforcement and follow-through. Raleigh police can make the arrest, but the next steps move through charging, court processing, probation and, in some cases, behavioral-health intervention. If those systems do not interrupt the cycle, the same names keep returning to the same streets. That is why the debate around Forman has landed as a government-accountability story rather than a simple crime story: downtown residents want to know which agency is responsible when repeated arrests do not produce lasting change.

City leaders have already begun testing other responses. In March 2026, Raleigh launched the Glenwood South Safety Pilot to improve pedestrian safety from North Street to Johnson Street. The Downtown Raleigh Alliance says its Ambassador Program includes outreach for people experiencing homelessness or mental-health needs through Project REACH OUT Day of Care. Raleigh CARES adds another layer, routing some 911 behavioral-health calls to clinicians instead of police.

Court records also matter in a case like this because Wake County and North Carolina Judicial Branch tools allow criminal case information to be searched at clerk of court terminals or through the public portal. That makes the pattern visible, and it puts pressure on officials to decide whether the failure is in charging, supervision, mental-health response or the space to hold repeat offenders long enough for treatment or court action to stick. In downtown Raleigh, the cost of that answer is measured in every business owner, worker and passerby who has to wonder whether the next encounter will be the same as the last.