State Auditor Beth Wood scheduled to appear March 23 on hit-and-run charge
A lawyer for State Auditor Beth Wood on Thursday appeared in administrative court, where a hearing on her hit-and-run charge was scheduled for March 23.
Wood was charged Dec 12 with misdemeanor hit-and-run resulting in property after a downtown Raleigh crash involving a state-owned vehicle.
Wood drove a state-owned Toyota into a parked car, rolling up onto its hood, according to police reports and descriptions of the crash aftermath reported to emergency dispatchers. Police arrived at the scene to find the engine running and no driver, one of those reports said. She was also cited for an unsafe movement infraction.
It happened outside a building at 132 S. Salisbury St., where Wood had been attending a party hosted by a prominent Raleigh lawyer, multiple sources told WRAL.
A recently unsurfaced social media video, posted on the night of the crash, shows a tall woman fitting the description of Wood being ushered away from the crash scene.
The building is occupied in part by the Edmisten & Webb Law Firm. Rufus Edmisten, a partner in the firm and a former state attorney general and secretary of state, hosted the party, which featured “food, drink and festivities,” according to a copy of the invitation obtained by WRAL.
Wood, who reported the crash to insurers last month, said in a statement on Monday that she had been attending a holiday gathering for about two hours prior to the crash. She didn’t provide specifics about the gathering.
Edmisten hasn’t responded to requests for comment, nor has Wood.
In a statement Tuesday, her lawyer, Roger Smith Jr., said: “Ms. Wood is taking full responsibility for her actions and is cooperating with authorities.”
Asked whether Wood was drinking at the holiday gathering, her lawyer didn't answer.
In the social media video, taken by ride-share driver Larry Beam, people are seen walking away from the crash scene, ushering a woman fitting the description of Wood into the Salisbury Street building, yelling “get her out of here.”
Beam, who posted the video on Dec. 8, identified the tall woman as Wood after having seen her in recent news reports. "It was for sure her," he told WRAL News.
The video then pans to show the aftermath of a crash outside the building — a dark Toyota sedan with a state license plate atop a parked car. Beam's video also shows a man standing by the state-owned car, which was issued to Wood. The man appears to be on the phone, kicking the corner of the car.
“It seems like there’s so many other people involved,” Beam said, describing others in the vicinity as “leaving the scene or even [egging] on or enabling someone to leave the scene.”
Wood is the only person charged in the crash. Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said Tuesday that investigators hadn't found sufficient evidence to charge anyone else in connection with the incident.
The Dec. 8 crash happened weeks after Wood was involved in a separate crash. That incident didn't involve a state vehicle, nor was it deemed her fault.
