Councilwoman accused of hitting City Manager
Darlington City Councilwoman Sheila Baccus during the April 4, 2023 City Council meeting. PHOTO BY STEPHAN DREW
By Stephan Drew, Editor
A member of the Darlington City Council has been accused of hitting Darlington’s City Manager during an Executive Session of the City Council meeting, held on April 4, 2023. Councilwoman Sheila Baccus allegedly hit Darlington City Manager John Payne, according to incident reports obtained by the News & Press through a Freedom of Information request.
According to the report, during the open portion of the council meeting, Baccus brought up a matter involving the city’s cherry picker equipment accidentally hitting a power line and pulling the connection box from a citizen’s property on Tuesday morning. Baccus allegedly accused Payne of ignoring the matter and being insensitive to a black person. Baccus accused Payne of ignoring her text messages about the incident. Payne responded that he had not received any texts from her.
In the report, Payne states that he attempted to defend himself, and Baccus then asked him “are you special needs?” There was a tense exchange between the two as Payne said Baccus was “publicly impugning my dignity and reputation,” accusing him of not responding to texts or calls from Baccus and other councilmembers.
The meeting then went into executive session. According to the report, during the closed session, Payne allegedly showed Baccus his text log to prove he hadn’t received a text from her. Baccus then allegedly responded by hitting Payne’s hand and almost knocking his phone across the floor.
In the report, Payne said, “the violent action displayed by Councilwoman Baccus is disturbing and cause for concern.” Baccus gave the following comment, “Mr. Payne shoved his phone in my face and tried to start a fight with me. He needs to grow up and try to help all the people of Darlington, like I’m trying to do.” City manager John Payne stated that, because the investigation is ongoing, he had no comment at this time.
In his report, Payne included another incident on March 1, when Baccus allegedly locked Payne out of his office after inquiring about why a city council meeting was moved from March 7 to March 14. Payne said in the report that Baccus accused him of being racist.
According to the report, Baccus was then allegedly escorted out of Payne’s office and city hall by police. Payne stated in the report it “is not fair for city staff to be subjected to this type of behavior, especially by an elected official.”
In another incident during a council meeting on July 12, 2022, Baccus allegedly became angered at an allegation about Payne and said, after pointing to several white councilmembers, “now when them bullets start flying because black people are not going to tolerate that, don’t act like this council don’t know.”
Baccus was accused in July 2020 of telling a Darlington police officer “take your white self back to the white neighborhood.”
She also filed a lawsuit in April 2021 after claiming “racially motivated” actions by Darlington’s mayor and former city manager.