CHARLOTTE — The petition to remove Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden from office was dismissed Thursday morning, Channel 9’s Joe Bruno learned in court.
Hours before McFadden was set to be in court for a hearing on the petition, the case was dismissed.
We’ve told you that Democratic state representative Carla Cunningham and four former Mecklenburg County sheriff’s office employees accused McFadden of discouraging detention officers from reporting use of force incidents involving inmates. He’s also accused of ordering deputies to drive members of the national sheriff’s association to bars and strip clubs while they were here for a conference. The group wanted to remove McFadden from his position as sheriff.
McFadden called it a smear campaign built on lies.
State law says the only way to remove a sheriff is through a court process, which is what the petition asked for.
Thursday morning, Channel 9 learned that the case was dismissed because the group initiated the process without the approval of the district attorney or county attorney.
This is a developing story, check back for updates.
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