A county commissioner has leveled accusations of misuse of vehicles by Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office employees.

Commissioner Jerry Langley brought up the issue during the regularly scheduled meeting of the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners on Monday. Langley said he had been told of several incidents in which sheriff’s office employees drove sheriff’s office vehicles for personal errands and had witnessed one such incident himself. Langley, along with most of the board, said he was concerned about county liability.

“Those vehicles belong to the county of Beaufort, and if something terrible happens (while being driven for personal use) then the county of Beaufort will be responsible,” Langley said.

Langley said the incidents included a department vehicle being used to take a spouse to dinner in Greenville and one employee delivering a child to school in Pitt County, and was clocked by an N.C. Highway Patrol trooper traveling at 78 mph with the child in the back seat two weeks in a row. Langley said he witnessed one employee using a sheriff’s office vehicle to take a pet to the veterinarian’s office.

County Manager Brian Alligood said, though the sheriff’s office vehicles are purchased by the county and covered by county insurance, the county has no say in how vehicles are used and cannot impose restrictions on how sheriff’s office employees use them.

“It’s not as cut and dried as it may seem,” Alligood said. “Once they turn the vehicles over to the sheriff, they can do what will with them. … By legal opinion, they are not county employees, they are sheriff’s officers. … From a county management standpoint, I have no control over (Sheriff Ernie Coleman) or his employees.”

Alligood suggested commissioners meet with Coleman or Chief Deputy Charlie Rose to discuss the issue. Board Chairman Frankie Waters asked that it be put on the agenda for next month’s meeting.

Chief Deputy Charlie Rose said he had been told about the discussion in the meeting, but declined to comment about the accusation of misuse because he had not yet seen the video of the meeting.