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Sheriffs’ Association Suspends Officials Over Lynching Comments

McCurtain County Sheriff Kevin Clardy and others were secretly recorded discussing killing Black people and journalists.

The Oklahoma Sheriffs’ Association (OSA) announced Tuesday that it had suspended a sheriff and others from its organization after they were secretly recorded talking about lynching Black people and murdering journalists. McCurtain County Sheriff Kevin Clardy, investigator Alicia Manning, and Jail Administrator Larry Hendrix have all been suspended from OSA, the organization announced on Facebook, though the suspension does not mean they have been removed from their roles. The three officials, along with County Commissioner Mark Jennings, have faced calls to resign after the McCurtain County Gazette-News reported that it had recorded the group making the racist and murderous comments after a public meeting last month. The sheriff’s office on Monday claimed the audio had been “illegally obtained” and appeared to have been edited, but an attorney at the firm representing the Gazette-News insisted the allegation was false and said the full recording would be released Thursday.