NC sheriff can’t name his branch of government, mistakenly calls it judicial

WASHINGTON (TNND) — A North Carolina Democratic sheriff floundered during a hearing after a state Representative asked him what branch of government he operates under.

The hearing held by the North Carolina House Oversight Committee was prompted by last summer’s brutal murder of Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian national killed by a mentally ill homeless man while aboard the L train.

Mecklenburg County Sheriff Gary McFadden, who oversees the county where Zarutska was murdered, was first asked a soft ball question by state Rep. Allen Chesser.

“What branch of government do you operate under?” Chesser asked him.

McFadden responded by saying “Mecklenburg County,” leading Chesser to ask him the question again.

McFadden responded by saying “The Constitution of the United States.”

“That is what establishes the branches of government; I’m asking what branch you fall under,” Chesser responded.

McFadden repeated “Mecklenburg County” for a second time.

“This is not where I was anticipating getting stuck. Um, are you aware of how many branches of government there are?” Chesser asked.

McFadden said he did not know how many branches of government there were.

“For the sake of debate, let’s say there are three branches of government: legislative, executive, judicial. Of those three, which do you fall under?” Chesser asked.

Mecklenburg County Sheriff said he believed it was judicial.

“You are incorrect, sir. You fall under the executive,” said Chesser.

Chesser said he posed this question to McFadden to establish a baseline of what he thought his role was in law enforcement. The sheriff had spoken previously about his opposition to working with ICE, and Chesser asked him how he navigated that with his obligations to the executive branch.

“I had several statements that he had made to the media and to the local press and in different interviews that kind of conflicted with some of the testimony that he provided yesterday about following the law,” Chesser said.

“We made it to [only] one of those statements because we got held up on what I thought was baseline, just kind of setting a baseline of how we were to establish that his role is to enforce the law,” he explained, adding, “I was not expecting to have to get into a fifth-grade civics lesson with a duly elected sheriff.”