NC Auditor Beth Wood pleads guilty to hit-and-run charge

North Carolina State Auditor Beth Wood pleaded guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor hit-and-run charge stemming from her crashing into a parked car in downtown Raleigh last December.

Wood appeared with her attorney, Roger W. Smith Jr., in Wake County court. She read aloud a statement in which she said she took full responsibility.

Wood said she was not impaired the night of the crash but that she had two glasses of wine at a Christmas party just before.

A Democrat who has served as auditor since 2009, Wood was leaving a holiday party on the evening of Dec. 8 in her state-issued Toyota Camry when she crashed the vehicle into another Camry that was parked on the side of the road. A police report and photos from the scene of the crash showed Wood’s car on top of the hood of the other vehicle.

Video taken moments after the crash showed people escorting Wood back into the law office on the corner of South Salisbury and West Hargett streets, where Wood had been attending a holiday party hosted by former N.C. Attorney General and Secretary of State Rufus Edmisten.

Wood didn’t report the crash to the police or the owner of the car she hit, which she later apologized for, and on Dec. 12, was charged by Raleigh police with misdemeanor hit-and-run and an infraction for unsafe movement.

The December crash, which didn’t become public knowledge until news outlets reported the charges against Wood in mid-January, has put Wood under considerable scrutiny.

Apart from a statement Wood issued in January, in which she apologized for leaving the scene of the crash without notifying the police, Wood has mostly avoided answering questions about the crash, including why she didn’t immediately call the police, and if she had been drinking during the two hours she said she was at Edmisten’s party.

The case has also expanded, with police charging two additional people last week with obstructing justice in connection to the December incident.

One of them, Jonah Mendys, 26, was also charged with misdemeanor passenger failure to give information following an accident. The other person charged, Ryan McGurt, 29, faces a separate misdemeanor accessory after the fact charge.

Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman, who confirmed the charges on Wednesday, said one of the men was a passenger in Wood’s car at the time of the crash.

The North Carolina Republican Party, in the days after news of Wood’s charges was first reported, called on her to resign. Few others have joined the state GOP in calling on her to resign, however.

Prominent politicians and lawmakers from both parties, like Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and GOP Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore, have instead said they believe the court process relating to Wood’s should play out before they comment further.

Wood, speaking to The N&O last month after a committee meeting at the Legislative Building, said she would “absolutely not” resign, as the state GOP has called on her to do.

“That accident does not define me, nor does it take away from the phenomenal work we’ve done in my administration,” Wood said.

Prior to news of the crash and her charges coming to light in January, Wood indicated she would run for another term in 2024. She hasn’t since said if she still plans to run for reelection.