Monroe City Council votes to remove councilwoman over actions in body camera video

MONROE, N.C. (WBTV) - The Monroe City Council has voted to remove a councilwoman from office following incidents captured on body camera video last year.

Council members voted to remove Angelia James, effective immediately, after James was seen stating claims about felons in a hotel and then threatening to fire officers in Sept. 2021.

The vote was unanimous (6-0), but James’s attorney said they will appeal. James’s photo was removed from the wall as soon as the vote was made official.

Related: Bodycam video released involving Monroe city councilwoman’s alleged hotel disturbance

Since then, the city of Monroe posted the hearing officer’s report, which lays out, what the officer says, is evidence James engaged in misconduct.

In the report, the City of Monroe hearing officer cited three main reasons to remove James.

The officer says there’s evidence James committed assault and battery on an officer, violated city code of ethics when she said she would fire and promote officers and engaged in misconduct when making multiple false reports to police.

Monroe officials say when they got to the Fairfield Inn back in September, James claimed there were felons on site that needed to be arrested, and one of the felons had committed a murder.

The city says no felons were identified and no arrests were made.

James eventually left the hotel, and police say they were called to her home, but when they got there, she said no one inside the home made a call.

She was taken to the hospital, and officials say, she again said the Monroe Police Chief was fired and she was firing officers.

James referred WBTV to her attorney who said there was no lawful basis to removing her from office, and the hearing officer’s conclusions are wrong.

The final phase of the hearing process was Thursday, April 7 at 4:30 p.m. where council members voted to remove James from office.

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