Volunteer asked to resign over disparaging remarks says sheriff a ‘lowlife’

Published 5:22 pm Thursday, July 11, 2019

A Mississippi sheriff says he has asked a volunteer to resign from a search-and-rescue team because the man trash-talked him on social media.

Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten tells the Natchez Democrat that Charles Harrigill’s behavior “is not conduct becoming of an officer.”

Harrigill resigned from a paid position in sheriff’s department in 2016 and later became a search-and-rescue volunteer. The sheriff says Harrigill has called him a “narcissist” and other names online.

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Harrigill said on social media Tuesday that Patten rules by “fear and intimidation” and is a “lowlife.” Harrigill says he supports another candidate in this year’s sheriff’s race and believes Patten violated his First Amendment rights by asking him to leave search-and-rescue.

Patten says if Harrigill feels that way, “he should have never stepped down.”