(The Center Square) – The Republican Party of a Tennessee county is calling for the resignation of General Sessions Court Clerk Tami Sawyer after a tirade against deputies caught on tape.
State Sen. Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) and others shared the video from Shelby County.
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“After General Sessions Court Clerk Tami Sawyer allegedly attempted to facilitate getting a firearm into the Shelby County Courthouse for her ‘private security,’ the Shelby County Sheriffs rightfully stopped the individual with the gun,” Taylor said in a post on social media. “What followed was an absolute embarrassment: Sawyer erupted in a tirade, screaming racial epithets and degrading the officers who were simply enforcing the law and protecting the public by preventing an armed private citizen from entering the courthouse at 140 Adams Ave.”
In the video, Sawyer said she needed the private security because of threats. Her language included “white supremacist” and expletives.
“Talking about killing me dead in the street. You want to know why I have security? Because I’m the one getting threatened,” Sawyer said in the video shared by Taylor.
The Shelby County GOP called for Sawyer’s immediate resignation.
“Her disqualifying actions rooted in a history of anti-police rhetoric erode public trust in our institutions and endanger the men and women who risk their lives daily to protect our communities,” the Shelby County GOP said in a release Thursday.
Sawyer identifies herself as a “prominent civil rights activist” in her biography on the Shelby County General Sessions Court website. She was one of several elected officials who participated in a news conference opposing the National Guard deployment in Memphis to fight crime.
The Center Square was unsuccessful prior to publication in getting a comment from Sawyer.
She tied the video’s release to the deployment of the National Guard in Memphis in an interview with WMC.
“I want to take a second to apologize to Shelby County that this is a distraction from the fact that the National Guard will be here,” Sawyer told the television station.
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Rep. John Gillispie, R-Memphis, also joined calls for Sawyer’s resignation.
“Tami Sawyer’s repeated pattern of dangerous, unprofessional behavior has no place in Shelby County leadership,” Gillispie said in a post on social media. “From interfering with law enforcement to racially charged tirades, she has proven herself unfit for office.”