Three Charleston Police Department officers accused a group of four people of battling with officers and inflaming a panicked crowd, in a preliminary hearing Monday.

The officers testified against the group, whose hearings were consolidated and charged with aggravated battery and other assorted offenses following a Sept. 27 mob scene near La Bamba’s Mexican Restaurant that some say was racially motivated.

Lee E. Graham, 36, is charged with aggravated battery, resisting a peace officer and resisting arrest. Seniece A. Graham, 28, is charged with aggravated battery to a police officer. Charles L. Spence, 32, is charged with aggravated battery in a public place. Jacques M. Spence, 24, is charged with aggravated battery and resisting a peace officer.

Officer John Bennett said when he arrived on the scene, he found Lee Graham distressed and yelling someone had hit his sister, Seniece Graham.

Bennett testified he tried to calm Lee Graham down and get him out of the swarm of about 100 people so they could talk. He said Lee Graham allegedly yelled “F*** the police! I don’t need the police; I can handle this on my own.”

Bennett said he approached Lee Graham with his hand outstretched and he allegedly swatted it away and pushed the officer.

After that alleged incident, Bennett said, he began telling Lee Graham to get down on the ground and tried to arrest him. When the defendant allegedly refused, Bennett sprayed him with pepper spray. He said Lee Graham was wearing glasses and didn’t feel the full impact of the spray on his eyes, but Bennett himself had trouble seeing after the incident.

Lee Graham had been in Coles County Safety and Detention Center and appeared in court shackled, but Judge Mitch Shick lowered his $25,000 bond to $5,000 because Lee Graham has no prior record and his mother and five siblings live in the county.

Seniece Graham is already free on bond and therefore was the only suspect to appear in court unshackled.

Bennett testified during his scuffle with her brother, Seniece Graham pushed the officer “with both hands” and told him he wasn’t going to arrest Lee Graham. She was also hit in the face with some of the pepper spray used, Bennett said.

The Spences are charged in a separate fight within the same crowd. Officer Kirk Hildebrand said Charles Spence severely injured his girlfriend when she tried to stop him from fighting with another girl.

Hildebrand said the woman told him Charles Spence punched her in her left ear, knocking her to the ground. She told the officer she couldn’t remember what happened after he allegedly punched her, and couldn’t hear out of that ear. Hildebrand told the court her eardrum had been ruptured. Shick raised Charles Spence’s bond to $100,000 in light of the severity of the alleged battering and prior convictions, including first degree murder and armed robbery.

Hildebrand testified Jacques Spence was yelling and “inciting the crowd.” When Hildebrand tried to arrest him, Jacques Spence allegedly told him “F*** you, I’m not under arrest.”

Officer Will Lawler said Jacques Spence allegedly yelled obscenities at him while Charles Spence was being arrested, and told the officer he didn’t have to listen to police or do anything they said.

Jacques Spence also has a record comprised mostly of cannabis charges.

During cross examination, Lee Graham’s attorney, Robert Dunst of Mattoon, questioned Bennett and other officers about racial slurs being yelled in the angry crowd. All officers testified they heard no racial epithets.

All officers also testified that the crowd was mostly white. The four suspects who were in court Monday are all black, as is William A. Graham, 31, who will appear Monday at 1 p.m. on charges of mob action and threatening a public official.

The four will return to court for their trials Nov. 17 at 9 a.m.