Mayor in South Carolina dies just days after entire town police force resigns

A small town in South Carolina has had quite a difficult week. First, the entire police department resigned over a "hostile work environment" allegedly created by one particularly troublesome councilman. Then, just days later, the town mayor was tragically killed in an automobile accident.

On Halloween, Bob Hale submitted a letter tendering his resignation as chief of police of McColl, a small town of some 2,000 residents and the home of the Pee Dee Indian tribe near the North Carolina border. Hale, who became police chief about a year ago, claimed that he had grown tired of the antics of an unnamed councilman.

'I hate to see them go. ... But we gonna continue on.'

"My personal decision to step away from the McColl Police Department can be attributed to repeated acts of harassment, personal attacks on my character, and the overall creation of a hostile work environment perpetuated by a specific Councilman," Hale wrote in a Facebook post.

"The majority of my tenure as Chief of Police was spent clearing the names of my officers as well as myself, from the numerous falsehoods that were made against us," he added.

Hale further mentioned other "unwarranted and malicious behavior" that he said created a "toxic atmosphere" throughout the entire department, as well as budget cuts that stalled efforts to "modernize equipment, enhance training, and increase staffing levels."

Hale said that his last day on the job would be November 22. The other four officers in the department quickly followed suit and resigned as well.

"At the end of the day, I have a family. And when my job is constantly getting threatened and certain things are getting said, I’m not going to stay somewhere and tolerate that," said former investigator Courtney Bulusan, who resigned on Thursday, according to WRAL.

"I’m not going to stay where I’m tolerated," she added. "I’m going to go where I’m celebrated."

At the time, Mayor George Garner declined to comment on the mass resignations except to say: "I hate to see them go. They were a great group. But we gonna continue on." He also claimed to have received assurances that the Marlboro County Sheriff’s Office would oversee the town until a new police chief could be found.

Sadly, just days after uttering those remarks, Mayor Garner died.

At approximately 2:40 p.m. on Tuesday, Garner was in a 2007 Chevy Tahoe driving along westbound Highway 34 in Mechanicsville, about 30 miles south of McColl, when he suddenly veered across the center line into oncoming traffic and struck a tractor-trailer, according to WMBF, citing the South Carolina Highway Patrol.

Both Garner and the driver of the truck were taken to the hospital. The condition of the other driver remains unknown, but Garner unfortunately passed away from his injuries.

He was 49.

Darlington County coroner J. Todd Hardee released a statement on Facebook that gave further details about the deadly crash, claiming that a sheriff's deputy had been pursuing Garner at the time of the incident.

"The pursuit was not related to any laws being broken," Hardee explained. "The pursuit was taking place in an effort to protect the well-being of Mr. Garner."

Hardee pledged to release a "ruling on the manner of death" within days. He also asked for prayers for Garner's family and the community as a whole.

The crash remains under investigation.

H/T: The Post Millennial

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