Wednesday, May 10, 2023

CMPD Chief Rodney Monroe's Longest Drive

If you spent part of last weekend at the Wells Fargo Championship you no doubt saw some seriously great golfers and some really long drives. 

But still the record holder for the longest drive belongs to former CMPD Chief Rodney Monroe who reportedly left his key in his tournement provided golf cart. Sensing a unique opportunity an unknown enterprising duo drove the golf cart from the Quail Hollow Club across Charlotte to the Selwyn Pub a distance of nearly six miles.

Monroe who is a pretty respectable golfer in his own right was hired from outside the department in 2008 to fulfill the need for a person of color to represent a southern city in what would be the start of a number of diversity hires. But Monroe whose leadership skills were rather absent used his local status to play a lot of golf in Charlotte.



The local news story:

A golf cart  was stolen from the Wells Fargo tournament then ditched outside a popular Charlotte bar. The cart belonged to the Quail Hollow Country Club, but on the last day of this weekend's tournament, two random guys apparently hopped in and hit the road.

"Looked at my friends and was like, 'There's a golf cart!' And by the time I looked back, they were gone," said Debbie Myers.

Myers was eating dinner Sunday night at Selwyn Avenue Pub when the golf cart pulled up. Owner Jim Foster says two guys got out, high-fived each other and ordered a drink, but he says he doesn't think they'd been drinking and driving.

"They didn't seem like they were drunk they just seemed very determined," Foster said. "They wouldn't have been served if they were drunk."

But Foster says they later realized that the cart the guys were driving had been stolen from Quail Hollow and in a slow-moving golf cart, that 5-mile trip would take some time. The quickest route would be from Gleneagles Road, then to Park Road for almost 3 miles, then Selwyn Avenue for another mile.

"I don't know how they made it that far from Quail Hollow all the way over to Selwyn without anyone seeing them," Meyers said.

Meyers says they bolted from the bar before anyone could find out who they were. Foster told us Quail Hollow sent someone up to the bar the next day to get the cart and bring it back. The country club didn't have anyone available to talk with us today and CMPD says they never filed a police report.

The total frat move was picked up by Golf Digest and of course reported by Cedar Posts. 

Monroe's legacy endures in the golf cart story, a number of unfortunate missteps and of Johnnie Jennings. 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It will be many more years before Monroe’s impact will work its way out of the department.

Anonymous said...

Hello Retirees,

During the riots when our city was under chaos of 2020, my supervisor was tasked with handing out Powerades at the warehouse. Should I tolerate her input and attitude regarding my cases at the office?

Anonymous said...

1427: Hey kid, you can call us at OSHA at 1(800) 321-6742. We are here to help you.



Anonymous said...

I am honestly surprised that no one has bragged about this yet. IT has been years and they haven't let it slip. It was a LEGENDARY prank and it is a shame the guys who pulled it off will go unknown into the annals of Charlotte history.

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