Arkansas County Sheriff Todd Wright resigned on Friday after a five-minute recording in which he used the N-word several times went viral on social media this week.
In the recording, Wright is heard yelling at a woman about an employee she had talked to in a Piggly Wiggly grocery store in Dewitt, Arkansas.
Wright tells the woman, “Shut up you f**king n***er lover! … Every motherf**ker in this store and you gotta talk to the f**king (inaudible) n***er. Right there in front of me, like y’all f**king best buddies. It is a big f**king deal. People f**king see me and see you talking to f**king n***ers.”
The Stuttgart Daily Leader reports that Wright resigned after a special session of the Arkansas County Quorum court: “Wright offered an apology for any offense the recording caused, and said that his comments were in the heat of the moment. Wright insisted he was not racist. Following comments by the public, including the mother and aunt of the man Wright disparaged in the video, Wright initially said he did not intend to resign.”
“The court voted unanimously to approve the resolution and asked Wright to resign,” the paper added. “Following further comments from the public asking for his resignation, including family friend Destiny Brown, Wright said that if he were given a month to get his affairs in order and look for another job, he would resign. However, Dewitt business owner and friend of Wright’s, Bobby Webb pleaded with him to resign immediately, saying, ‘I’ve known you all my life. You need to take that badge and you need to lay it on that table and you need to walk out of here. You know I love you .’ Wright became emotional and gave a verbal resignation before a brief intermission, during which a formal written resignation was created.”
Wright had been with the Arkansas County police for 26 years.
