BODY CAM: ‘I am going to defund you’: Smithfield city councilman resigns after police confrontation

BODY CAM: ‘I am going to defund you’: Smithfield city councilman resigns after police confrontation

On Aug. 3, Smithfield police officers were called to a traffic accident involving Smithfield city councilman Ted Stokes’s son and a parked vehicle.

Two officers went to Stokes’s home to gather an accident report after the owner of the parked vehicle called police due to the extent of the damage.

Footage shows Stokes confronting officers about why two of them are at his home, and he begins telling them that he will “defund” them.

After the interaction with the police, the body camera video of the interaction was reported by the Herald Journal in mid-September.

On Sept. 20, the Smithfield City Council announced that Stokes was resigning from his position on the council.