Cop Tells Scared White Woman ‘We Only Kill Black People,’ Caught On Dashcam During DUI Stop
A Georgia cop told a scared white woman who he had just pulled over in a traffic stop that “[w]e only kill black people.” The veteran officer claims he used the comment as a way of de-escalating the situation. Despite his intent, this comment got him into trouble just the same.
The woman who was pulled over by the cop told the officer that she was afraid to move her hands because she’s seen “way too many videos of cops.”
This is when the 28-year veteran law enforcement officer cut her off to say, “But you’re not black. Remember, we only shoot black people.”
This was an incident that occurred last year, but it was just recently that the media obtained a copy of the dashcam video and ran with it. Lt. Gregg Abbott of the Cobb County Police Department pulled over a sedan in a suspected DUI stop. He told the woman at one point that she could go ahead and use her cell phone, which was sitting on her lap.
That is when the woman said that she was afraid to reach for it after seeing “way too many videos of cops.”
Abbott also said to the woman, “All the videos you’ve seen, have you seen black people getting killed?”
The New York Daily News describes the woman as being “frightened.”
She answers the cop with one word, “Right.”
The dashcam video was recently obtained by WSB-TV, which prompted an investigation. Abbott has been put on administrative leave while this investigation is underway. Cobb County Police Chief Mike Register conveyed the seriousness of this event. He told reporters that it makes no difference why and how it was said, “it shouldn’t have been said.”
Georgia cop tells white driver, "We only shoot black people." https://t.co/bNtIJ9zMy8
— The Telegraph (@telegraphga) August 31, 2017
According to Police Chief Mike Register, when WSB-TV requested the dash cam recording through an open-records request for their Channel 2 News, this prompted the police chief to view the recording. This set the wheels in motion for the investigation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEIETUUH9rQ
The incident occurred before Register became the police chief, but he did say that Abbott was a quality officer up until this point.
He also said, “We’re not making excuses. We’re meeting this head-on and we’re going to deal with it.”
The lawyer representing the woman in the DUI case, Suri Chadha Jimenez, said that she had given the cop “some lip,” so it is more than likely that Abbott was just being sarcastic with his comment.
With that said, Jimenez added, “It makes you cringe to hear it. It’s unacceptable.”
Cop tells scared white woman driver tht she doesn't have to be scared–"remember, we only kill black people."https://t.co/WR5pL4jiUy
— Arise (@rise804) August 31, 2017
The lawyer representing Abbott said his client was just trying to take control of the situation and the comment was taken out of context. Attorney Lance LoRusso said in a statement that this was a situation involving an “uncooperative passenger,” and Abbott was attempting to “de-escalate the situation.”
LoRusso continued, “In context, his comments were clearly aimed at attempting to gain compliance by using the passenger’s own statements and reasoning to avoid making an arrest.”
When it was suggested that Abbott was using this comment as a way to de-escalate the situation, the New York Daily News suggests, “but this still doesn’t take away the horror.”
[Featured Image by Ilkin Zeferli/Shutterstock]
