No proof Warnock ‘ran over’ wife; obstruction case dropped

With the future of Senate control in the hands of Georgia voters, Republicans and Democrats are hurling claim after claim at one another in advance of a Jan. 5 runoff for two Senate seats.

The Rev. Raphael Warnock, the Democratic challenger to Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, was hit with a double-barreled attack Nov. 13 from Erick Erickson, a conservative Atlanta-based radio host. Tweeting a video excerpt from his show, Erickson claimed Warnock "ran over his wife" and was "arrested for obstructing an investigation into child abuse."

The claim is highly misleading on both counts and comes as Republicans seek to maintain the political upper hand in the Senate, which is now split 50-48. No candidate in either of the Peach State contests on Nov. 3 earned more than 50% of the vote, leaving its two Senate seats up for grabs.

So while Democrats are poised to control the White House and the House, control of the Senate won’t be known until after the Georgia runoffs.

Warnock, pastor of the Atlanta church where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached, finished first on Nov. 3 among 21 candidates seeking the seat held by Loeffler, who finished second. The Atlanta businesswoman was appointed on an interim basis in December to replace GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson, who resigned with health problems. 

The incident involving Warnock’s then-estranged wife occurred in Atlanta in March and made news a week later.

Warnock was married to Oulèye Ndoye; they divorced in May. Until July, Ndoye served on Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms' executive team as the city’s senior human trafficking fellow. 

Warnock called police to Ndoye’s Atlanta home shortly before 8:30 a.m. on March 2. According to a police report:  

Warnock said Ndoye accused him of running over her left foot with his 2014 Tesla while they were arguing in her driveway. Ndoye was reluctant to show her foot to the officer, who wrote: "I did not see any signs that Ms. Ouleye’s foot was ran over." Medical personnel arrived and were "not able to locate any swelling, redness, or bruising or broken bones on Ms. Ouleye’s left foot."

The child abuse case referenced in the ad stemmed from a 2002 police investigation into alleged child abuse at a church-run camp near Baltimore; Warnock was the church’s pastor. 

According to news reports at the time, Warnock and the youth minister at Douglas Memorial Community Church in Baltimore were arrested July 31, 2002, and charged with trying to prevent a state trooper from interviewing teen counselors at the church's Camp Farthest Out in Eldersburg, about 30 miles northwest of Baltimore. Neither man was suspected of committing the alleged abuse, a state trooper said at the time.

Warnock said he was charged when he asserted that lawyers should be present during the teens’ interviews.

Featured Fact-check

Rob Teilhet

stated on June 5, 2010 in a candidate questionnaire

Said he is the only Democratic candidate for state attorney general who has "represented the entire state of Georgia."

On Oct. 30, 2002, a judge dismissed the charges. The dismissal came at the request of a prosecutor, who said: "What we decided was there was some miscommunication that had occurred with them. They were very helpful with the continued investigation. It would not have been a prudent use of resources to have prosecuted them."

Erickson did not reply to our requests for information to back up his statement. In addition to Erickson, Loeffler and other conservatives raised the incident after the Nov. 3 election.

Erickson said Warnock "ran over his wife" and was "arrested for obstructing an investigation into child abuse."

Police found no evidence that Warnock ran over his wife’s foot with his car during an argument in March 2020.

In 2002, Warnock and another minister were arrested for interfering with law enforcement officers who were trying to interview youth camp counselors about child abuse allegations at the camp, which was run by a church where Warnock was the pastor. Warnock said he was asserting that lawyers should be present. The charges were later dropped at the request of a prosecutor, who said there had been miscommunication and that both ministers had been "very helpful" later in the investigation.

Erickson’s statement contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it Mostly False.

This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here, for more.