ROCK HILL, S.C. (AP) _ Rock Hill's police chief is defending a city ordinance that allows officers to charge someone with resisting police.

 

The Herald of Rock Hill reported Sunday that Police Chief John Gregory says the law helps prevent and solve crimes.

Critics say the ordinance is a tool for officers to target minorities.

City prosecutors agreed last month to stop trying people under the “resisting police'' law until Rock Hill City Council reviews it.

Gregory says those who face the charge usually are accused of other crimes as well. He denied officers use the ordinance to target African-Americans.

Rock Hill NAACP president Melvin Poole told council members earlier this month that officers use it stop people who refuse to answer police.

The charge is different from resisting arrest, which is a felony.