Beaufort County administrator accused of misconduct, to be investigated by third-party agency
A criminal complaint alleging misconduct has been filed against Beaufort County Administrator Eric Greenway in the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Department.
The report was filed May 11, and became an incident report on June 29.
“After reviewing the information received and following a consultation with Solicitor Duffie Stone, it was determined that the complaint will be forwarded to an independent agency for investigation,” the incident report reads.
The complaint is being handled by the third-party agency because of the Sheriff and Solicitor’s offices connection to the county, Beaufort County Sheriff PJ Tanner said. “We both receive money from county council and it’s just best an independent entity within the state be the investigative arm.” he said.
Tanner told the Island Packet / Beaufort Gazette that the Sheriff’s office found the complaint “substantial” and were thorough in their review before it was elevated to an outside agency. “It’s not something that we did quickly - it has been reviewed since May 11 and became an incident report in the last week,” Tanner said.
The incident report also states the the alleged misconduct took place between Jan 9 and May 11, 2023. There’s no official word yet on the specifics of the alleged misconduct..
In the State of South Carolina there are three types of misconduct.
According to Dictionary.law.com:
▪ The first is “malfeasance” meaning an act was “performed illegally or wrongly.”
▪ The second is “misfeasance” defined as an act that was “performed poorly.” The distinction between malfeasance and misfeasance is the latter involves, “committing a wrong or error by mistake, negligence or inadvertence, but not by intentional wrongdoing.”
▪ The third is “nonfeasance” and is defined as “failure to perform a required duty or obligation.”
Jeff Kidd, spokesperson for the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, said the office would not be commenting on the case at this time, but expects to have information for the media in the next couple of days.
A call to Greenway’s phone for comment went to a full mailbox. A subsequent text message received no response.
This story was originally published July 5, 2023 at 5:16 PM.
