A sheriff in a small North Carolina county resigned Wednesday, marking the second time he has resigned from the post since making racist comments about a black deputy in the department.
Jody Greene, former Columbus County sheriff, initially retreated from his position in October after audio surfaced of disparaging Black deputies. But he did not withdraw from the November election and the end defeated her Democratic challenge.
County District Attorney Jon David filed a petition last week to permanently remove Greene from office.
“We don’t feel that Jody Greene should be the one to carry the badge anymore,” David said in a media release.
A hearing was set to take place this week, but Greene withdrew before the judge could issue a ruling on whether he should be permanently disqualified from serving as sheriff.
Local activists including Curtis Hill, chairman of the Columbus County NAACP, said they were disappointed that Greene was still eligible to serve as sheriff.
“We thought we would have an opportunity to hear what the prosecutors put in the petition to remove Jody Greene, which we think is very important to the citizens of Columbus County,” Hill said in a statement. “Nothing we do today will prevent him from being in law enforcement again, and that’s troubling to me and the people of Columbus County.”
Jeff Loperfido, interim chief counsel for voting rights at the Social Coalition for Social Justice, said Greene was trying to “game the system” by resigning before a judge determined he was eligible to serve in the future.
Greene’s comments, which were first reported by the local WECT TV station in September, recorded during a six-and-a-half-minute phone conversation with Jason Soles, a former police captain, in February 2019. Greene referred to several employees as a “black bastard.” She said she was going to “clean house” and that no one could stop her because she was “still a mother sheriff”.
Soles was Greene’s Democratic opponent for Columbus County sheriff last fall. Greene won with 54% of the vote.
Chief Deputy David Norris will take over the sheriff’s position, the county attorney announced.