An Arkansas Delta sheriff resigned on Friday after he was heard chastising a woman for speaking to a Black man in a leaked audio that circulated on social media last week.
Arkansas County Sheriff Todd Wright complied with Quorum Court’s request that he resign after a five-minute audio recording was reported by the Pine Bluff Commercial. In the audio clip, Wright uses the N-word nine times while reprimanding a woman named Desiree Middlebrooks for speaking to a Black man in a grocery store. Middlebrooks is the mother of Wright’s child.
In the audio clip, Wright calls the woman a “n-gger lover,” for speaking to a Black man.
“I don’t understand why you’re so mad at me,” the woman says.
“Why you got to holler at f-cking n-ggers when I’m around?” he asks.
The encounter occurred at a Piggly Wiggly in DeWitt, where Middlebrooks spoke to a Black employee at the store named Nick Clark. Middlebrooks secretly recorded Wright’s rant, during which he called Clark a “dread head n-gger.”
At a Quorum Court meeting on the morning of Friday, Aug. 28, the court requested Wright’s resignation.
“After viewing and hearing the video I was terribly upset to know that we have someone out here that’s supposed to be taking care of us, protecting and serving to have that kind of opinion of me — I’m using me as a race because of my color,” said Justice of the Peace Inez Mclemore.
Wright was present in the room at the time, and blamed the devil for his actions. He made reference to several of his Black friends while making the case that he is not racist.
“I’m a Christian man. I read my bible everyday,” said Wright. “I am by no means a racist. That video does not show the true picture of me.”
Mclemore said that the trust between Wright and the community had been broken, and that he needed to resign in order to get help.
“If you have a mental problem I think you should get help because the degrading words that you used rolled off of your tongue too well,” she said. “If the head is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt.”
Members of Clark’s family also spoke at the meeting. His mother said that her son had not gone back to work since the video was leaked due to embarrasment.
“I don’t feel that was right for you to call him out of his name like that — a dreadlock n-gger. That’s exactly what your words were,” she said. “I do wish that you would resign or get fired.” Clark was reportedly spotted outside of the courthouse, but his aunt said he would not come because he was hurt.
Attorney Furonda Brasfield, who has called for the FBI to investigate the allegedly corrupt law enforcement system in Arkansas County, also spoke at the meeting, saying: “This is ridiculous. This is shameful. Todd you need to resign. … When I heard that audio, I did not jump to conclusions, but I was taken back. It was unbelievable, but it was believable because we live in Arkansas County. This is not the first racist officer that’s been allowed to run rogue in this county.”
Although the court had also unanimously voted to request Wright’s resignation, he initially refused to do so, even after hearing the recording. He addressed the attendees at the meeting, saying that had gotten upset about a situation but doesn’t condone racism.
After Bryant Belerford, a Black veteran and friend of Wright, spoke with his daughter Destiny Belerford, Wright was moved to tears and said their words had opened his eyes. He surrendered his badge and gun and resigned. He was granted 30 days of pay for the sake of his children.
Deputy Chief Randy Bateman is serving as interim sheriff until a new county sheriff is elected on September 8.
