Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has called on four county officials to resign after they were caught on tape allegedly making violent and racist remarks and jokes.
"There is simply no place for such hateful rhetoric in the state of Oklahoma, especially by those that serve to represent the community through their respective office," Stitt said in a statement, according to The Associated Press and other outlets. "I will not stand idly by while this takes place."
His statement came in response to the release of audio recordings by the McCurtain Gazette-News, a local newspaper that said it recorded the comments at a public meeting.
The recordings, which haven't been authenticated by NPR, reportedly include the voices of McCurtain County Sheriff Kevin Clardy, Commissioner Mark Jennings, sheriff's investigator Alicia Manning and jail administrator Larry Hendrix.
McCurtain Gazette-News publisher Bruce Willingham said he left a voice-activated recorder in the room following a county commissioners' meeting on March 6 because he suspected officials were continuing to conduct businesses after the meeting in violation of the state's Open Meeting Act, the AP reported.
Audio captured by the recorder appears to include the officials discussing burned bodies falling apart, hitmen they knew and lynching.
According to a transcript of the recordings, Jennings appears to say that "back in the day" someone could take a "a damn Black guy and whoop their ass and throw him in the cell," he said.
"Take them down to Mud Creek and hang them up with a damn rope. But you can't do that anymore. They got more rights than we got," Jennings added.
The governor called for the resignations of Clardy, Jennings, Manning and Hendrix.
Leslie Berger, press secretary for the Oklahoma Attorney General's Office, told NPR in an email that the office was investigating "the situation in McCurtain County."
A message sent to Jennings' district email address was not immediately returned. NPR also left a message with the McCurtain County Sheriff's Office.
The Oklahoma Sheriffs' Association, a membership group that provides training and support, said on Tuesday that its board had voted to suspend Clardy, Manning and Hendrix from the organization.
The sheriff's office said the recordings were illegal and may have been altered
On Monday, the sheriff's office posted a lengthy statement to Facebook in which it said the recordings were obtained illegally and may have been altered.
"In addition to being illegally obtained, the audio does not match the 'transcription' of that audio, and is not precisely consistent with what has been put into print," the sheriff's office said.
Felony charges may be filed in the case, the sheriff's office added.
A McCurtain County Commission meeting on Monday morning was attended by dozens of protesters, including Idabel Mayor Craig Young, KOSU reported. Idabel, which is located nearly 200 miles southeast of Oklahoma City, is the seat of McCurtain County.
Young and others called for the resignations of officials who were heard speaking on the recordings.
"Listen, the story that you guys heard, it does not represent McCurtain County. We have good folks in McCurtain County. If we were so racist, it would not be such a diverse group here," Young said, according to KOSU.
"Somebody made a mistake. We're here to ask that they pay for they mistake," he added.
