A sheriff in a small North Carolina county resigned Wednesday, marking his second time stepping down from the position since making racist comments about Black deputies in his department.
Jody Greene, the embattled former sheriff of Columbus County, initially resigned from his position in October after audio surfaced of him disparaging Black deputies. But he didn’t withdraw from the November election and ultimately beat out his Democratic challenger.
County District Attorney Jon David filed a petition last week seeking to permanently remove Greene from office.
“We simply do not feel as though Jody Greene should be someone who ever carries a badge again,” David said in a media release.
A hearing was set to take place this week, but Greene stepped down before a 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 is still eligible to be sheriff.
“We were thinking we were going to have an opportunity to actually hear what the prosecutor has put in his petition to remove Jody Greene, which we thought was really important for the citizens of Columbus County,” Hill said in a statement. “Nothing they did today will prevent him from serving in law enforcement again, and that is very troubling to me and for the citizens of Columbus County.”
Jeff Loperfido, interim chief counsel of voting rights at Social Coalition for Social Justice, said Greene was trying to “game the system” by resigning before the judge determined whether he was eligible to serve in the future.
Greene’s comments, which were first reported by local TV station WECT in September, were recorded during a six-and-a-half-minute phone conversation with Jason Soles, a former police captain, in February 2019. Greene referred to some employees as “Black bastards.” He said he would “clean house” and that no one could stop him because he was “still the motherfucking sheriff.”
Soles was Greene’s Democratic opponent for Columbus County sheriff last fall. Greene won with 54% of the vote.
Deputy Chief David Norris will take over the position of sheriff, the county district attorney announced.