An Arkansas sheriff resigned Friday after coming under fire over a dry racist recording.
About 85 miles southeast of Little Rock, Arkansas County Sheriff T. D. Wright immediately resigned effectively Friday during a public hearing about the incident at the county’s Courtroom Court, his governing legislature.
The meeting, which was recorded live and posted on Facebook, came after Wright was identified by a local news outlet called Pine Bluff Commercial while the man was giving a racist rent in a five-minute audio recording.
According to a local outlet, heard on Wright’s recording, which is widely shared on social media, he gets annoyed that a woman with him talked to a black man in a store.
Throughout the recording, the woman refers to the man as “Todd”. The man in the recording uses racial obscenity about nine times against black people.
Wright apologized at a court meeting for the offense caused by his recorded comments and said he made that comment in the heat of the moment when he was “upset by certain things.”
He also insisted he was not racist.
“It’s not me,” he said.
After her criticism, a woman who identified herself as the mother of a man named Wright said she did not know why Wright felt the need to call her son, whom she described as a hardworking man with two jobs, “names like” above and above.
He said, “I don’t appreciate you saying that to him or anyone else.” “If you have a problem, don’t bring them to work.”
County Judge Thomas Best said members of the court decided Thursday to seek Wright’s resignation, the day after the recording began circulating on Facebook.
“I’m sorry that anyone would disrespect God’s creation in this way,” Best said at the meeting. “By no means do I want to convey that I recommend for the mother to be inactive.”
After accepting Wright’s resignation, the court also passed a resolution allowing him to be paid as a contract laborer until September 30, but he will not become an active officer for law enforcement.
He will serve as the county’s chief deputy sheriff until a replacement is appointed or a special election is held, Best said.
An attempt to reach Wright through a social media account on Saturday was not immediately successful.
Associated Press Contributed.
