NC elected official unanimously removed from City Council after ‘misconduct’ findings
Monroe City Council voted unanimously this week to remove fellow member Angelia James from office.
The vote followed a Monroe hearing officer’s determination that James “engaged in misconduct in office and that just cause exists for her removal from office,” according to a copy of the officer’s March 25 report.
The City Council appointed the hearing officer, Valecia McDowell, after police videos revealed a series of disturbing confrontations James had with police in September 2021, the Observer reported at the time.
The confrontations included James ordering officers to search a hotel because God had told her a murderer and other criminals were hiding there, the videos showed.
When police later responded to a disturbance call at James’ home that night, she tried to illegally fire or promote several of the officers at the scene, the city said in a later statement detailing the incidents.
When James was then taken to Atrium Health Union Hospital for treatment, more confrontations broke out, including one in which she ripped a protective mask off the face of one officer while declaring that the pandemic had ended, the city’s statement said. She also told multiple officers that they had been fired, video showed.
In an email to The Charlotte Observer at the time, James accused the city and police of fabricating the descriptions of her behavior at the Fairfield Inn, her home and at the hospital.
James could not be reached for comment on Friday
City council based its decision to remove James from office on the hearing officer’s report, city spokesman Pete Hovanec told the Observer on Friday.
In her report, McDowell said James “presented no evidence indicating that (a) she received or plans to receive mental health treatment or (b) is taking steps to determine whether such events may occur again or to mitigate that risk.”
James, a Democrat, was elected to the council in 2019. Her term was to expire in November 2023.