Sheriff won’t apologize for saying SC cops had ‘every right’ to shoot Black suspects
A South Carolina sheriff who said cops had “every right” to shoot at two Black men during a recent arrest is standing by his comments.
Chuck Wright, sheriff of Spartanburg County, drew backlash after he made remarks about his department’s encounter with the two suspects, who were originally accused of shooting at deputies and charged with attempted murder, WSPA reported.
”We had every right to shoot into that car as much as we wanted to to make sure that they weren’t going to be a threat no more because they shot at us first,” he told the Spartanburg Herald-Journal last week, according to a video posted on YouTube. “So you need to remember that and understand that we had every right to kill those men.”
In an interview with WYFF, he said: “We had every right to shoot up the car and kill them, just so you know. And in case anybody wants to know, some of the activist wants to know, these were two Black men.”
Backlash erupted over Wright’s comments, and community members have called on him to apologize for remarks they considered divisive, multiple news outlets reported.
“Telling them, ‘because we think you may have done something, we are justified and have every right to shoot into that vehicle’ and that’s a problem,” Chris Ceej Jefferson, a community activist, told WYFF.
An investigation later revealed cops didn’t find enough evidence that the suspects shot toward deputies, leading them to drop the charges of “Attempted Murder and Possession of a Weapon during the Commission of a Violent Crime,” the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office said in an incident report. The men later faced charges of aggravated breach of peace, according to the report.
Wright during a county council meeting Monday defended his initial comments, saying his deputies would have had the right to shoot in the event of a possible threat, according to news outlets. The sheriff also said his first remarks were misinterpreted, WHNS reported.
“It’s not my fault that you misunderstand me, and I don’t owe you an apology for doing my job,” Wright said, according to WHNS. “I am going to continue to do my job no matter how loud you get or what you say, and I’m going to do the right thing, and do it for everybody, all the people here.”
The controversy comes in a year in which policing tactics have gained national attention.
Some people took to the internet to show support for Wright’s remarks.
“He tells it like it is and we live in a time people don’t want to hear it,” one person commented last week on the Herald-Journal’s YouTube page. “Our Police are under attack and they are the greatest public workers we have. They keep us safe. God Bless Chuck Wright and our Law (Enforcement).”
But not everyone is in favor of the sheriff’s refusal to back down.
“Refusing to correct or acknowledge his mistakes brings into question the morality of not only Sheriff Wright but the entire department,” Courtney McLain said, according to the newspaper. “It seems easier for our own sheriff to fight against the minorities within the community than to fight for us.”
This story was originally published September 22, 2020 at 9:58 AM.
