The sheriff of Bergen County, Michael Saudino, a Democrat who was in his third term, had initially issued an apology Thursday evening, but declined to step down even after numerous public officials — including Gov. Philip D. Murphy, Representative Josh Gottheimer, whose district includes a large part of Bergen County, and Gurbir Grewal, the state attorney general — called for his swift resignation.
But on Friday afternoon, facing mounting pressure, Mr. Saudino and his four deputies submitted their resignations, effective immediately.
The recording was made at Mr. Murphy’s inauguration in Trenton. Soon after the governor’s speech, Mr. Saudino disparaged Mr. Murphy’s proposal to legalize marijuana, saying “in other words, let the blacks come in.”
“Smoke their marijuana, do this do that, and don’t worry about it,” Mr. Saudino said, according to the WNYC report. “You know, we’ll tie the hands of cops.”
He also said the only reason Mr. Murphy nominated Mr. Grewal, the first Sikh-American in the country to be a state attorney general, was because of “the turban.”
The comments brought condemnation across the state, but Mr. Saudino initially offered only an apology and made no mention of leaving his position.