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Wednesday, January 3, 2024

The Unlucky Traffic Offender

     Being stopped for traffic violations for otherwise law abiding citizens is usually the only direct contact they have with law enforcement. Most citizens, when caught speeding, realize they have broken the law and accept the fine with grace. While traffic offenders don't like being caught and fined, they don't hold it against the cop who stopped them. They know the police officer is doing his or her job, and a dangerous job it can be.

     Citizens, however, do not appreciate unfair traffic enforcement such as speed traps. They also don't like it when an officer is rude, disrespectful or abusive.

     To do their jobs effectively police officers require the support of the law abiding community. That support is fragile and can be destroyed if too many patrol officers do not act like professional public servants. A cop who abuses his or her power of arrest, even in minor cases, is unfit for law enforcement. There is no such thing as a minor abuse of power. In law enforcement zero-tolerance should be a two-way street.

     On April 7, 2018, 24-year-old Sarah Webb, en route to her job at a hair salon was pulled over for speeding outside of Atlanta, Georgia by a pair of officers with the Roswell Police Department. Officer Courtney Brown approached the stopped vehicle and asked Sarah Webb if she knew how fast she had been driving. Webb apologized for driving too fast in the 45 MPH zone and explained that she was late for work.

     In addressing the speeding suspect, Officer Brown said, "The ground is wet and it's been raining. You're going over 80 miles per hour on this type of road. That's reckless driving."

     "I'm so sorry," replied the traffic violator.

     Officer Courtney Brown returned to the police cruiser and conferred with her fellow Roswell officer, Kristee Wilson. Officer Brown allowed that she had not recorded Webb's vehicle on a speed detection device and was speculating on how fast Webb had been driving. Regarding how fast Webb had been moving, Officer Wilson noted that Officer Brown's body camera would have recorded the police car's speed in catching up to the suspect.

     As Officer Brown accessed a coin-flip application on her cell phone, she said, "Hold on." Officer Brown said she would let the virtual coin decide whether or not they would just ticket driver Webb or take her into custody for reckless driving. When the computer coin flip went against the driver, Officer Brown approached Sarah Webb's car and informed her that she was under arrest.

      "Why am I being arrested," asked the stunned driver.

     Officer Brown told Webb, who was now sobbing, that she was being taken into custody for reckless driving and driving too fast for conditions. The officer handcuffed the traffic violator and placed her into the back of the patrol car.

     On Sunday, July 8, 2018, after a local television station aired Officer Brown's body camera video of the coin-flip and arrest, a local prosecutor dropped the charges against Sarah Webb. Up until this point the arrestee had no idea she had been taken into custody on the strength of a coin toss.

      It was not surprising that the airing of Officer Brown's body camera video created public outrage and became a national news story.

    In response to the pubic's disgust regarding this police action, Roswell Chief of Police Rusty Grant told reporters that Officers Courtney Brown and Kristee Wilson had been placed on paid administrative leave pending an internal inquiry. "I have much higher expectations of our police officers," he said. "I am appalled that a law enforcement officer would trivialize the decision making process of something as the arrest of a person."

     Sarah Webb, who characterized the officers' administrative leave as a paid vacation, said this: "These [police officers] are people who are supposed to protect us. It's disgusting to think police officers do stuff like this. It was appalling."

     The authority to arrest people and haul them to a police station constitutes enormous power over the lives and reputations of citizens. As a result, this authority should carry with it equally momentous responsibility. Any police officer who intentionally abuses the power of arrest, at any level of law enforcement, should be dealt with severely. A police officer without empathy is a danger to society. Officers Courtney Brown and Kristee Wilson were unfit for police work.

     On July 26, 2018, Officers Brown and Wilson were fired. According to Chief Grant they were terminated "For treating our freedom and our lives as games."

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