From Staff Reports

After a three-year tenure that turned tumultuous in the last six months, Tammy Hooper, the Asheville Police Department’s first female police chief, announced her resignation, effective Jan. 2.

What’s more, she will be leaving with an extra payment of $118,000 for delaying her resignation during a crisis and for consulting work she will perform after she departs, based on a recent agreement signed by Hooper and Mayor Esther Manheimer.

However, the Asheville Citizen Times  reported that “the Nov. 5 agreement and other documents obtained in a public records request don’t answer several questions about Hooper’s planned Jan. 2 departure after an intense half year.

“Those include the circumstances surrounding Hooper’s original resignation. City  officials say Hooper first gave her notice in February, but said Thursday (Nov. 8) they didn’t know the exact date. 

“City spokeswomen have said her original resignation occurred prior to a city crisis ignited by the Feb. 28 release of a leaked police body camera video showing the beating, choking and tasing of a black pedestrian by a white officer stopped for jaywalking,” the ACT noted. 

The incident drew national attention and triggered local outrage.