RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — North Carolina State Auditor Beth Wood said she is personally taking care of the damages to both cars involved in a December hit-and-run that resulted in charges against her.
Woods, a Democrat, was driving a state-owned vehicle in downtown Raleigh that hit a parked car. Video shows her vehicle on top of the other car’s hood before she walks into a law office just moments later.
“What I would tell you is this,” Wood said on Tuesday. “I am so sorry that the accident happened. Obviously, I am so sorry. And if I could go back and change my decision that night, I would. But I can’t. All I can do is move forward and fix what was broken.”
Wood declined to comment and walked away when asked whether she had been drinking that night.
Earlier this month, Wood was sent a letter from the state’s Motor Fleet Management director showing possible misuse of a second state-owned vehicle while the original vehicle she had been assigned was “temporarily terminated.”
“It appears that you may be using a state-owned vehicle for personal use,” the letter read. “If this is the case, this constitutes misuse of a state-owned vehicle … Please be advised that misuse of a state-owned vehicle could result in revocation of assignment of the vehicle to your agency.”
In response to questions about the travel logs, a spokesperson for the Department of Administration told CBS 17 in an email that Wood still has not been assigned another car but that the auditor’s office has five vehicles assigned to it.
While some have called for Wood’s resignation—even on billboards—it does not appear that is in her plans.
She told CBS 17 that she will “continue to do the great work that the state auditors office has always done.”
