Y’all, these cops ain’t even trying to pretend anymore. Released dashcam footage provided to a local Georgia news station shows an officer’s interaction with a white woman who claimed she was afraid to move her hands during a traffic stop be a use of all the recent videos of cops shooting and/or attacking folks.
That’s when the Cobb County, Ga., police officer could be heard reassuring the woman that she wouldn’t get hurt because she’s not black.
“But you’re not black. Remember, we only kill black people. We only kill black people, right?” the officer, identified as Lt. Greg Abbott by WSBTV, could be heard saying.
Now Police Chief Mike Register is attempting to do damage control, launching an internal investigation and placing Abbott on administrative duties pending the outcome of that investigation.
Now, I’m not a lawyer, and I do not know all the nuances of the legal system, but what the hell exactly is there left to investigate?
“The statements was [sic] made by an individual. They are not indicative of the values and the facts that surround the Cobb County Police Department and this county in general,” Register said.
Register indicated that the recording was taken from a DUI traffic stop last year, before he became chief, and that Abbott made his comments after the woman indicated that she was just too nervous to reach down to get her phone because of her exposure to videos on police brutality.
“No matter what context it was said in, it should not have been said,” Register added. “We’re not making excuses. We’re meeting this head-on and we’re going to deal with it.”
Riiight.
A lawyer representing the driver said that he thinks the officer was being sarcastic after the woman “gave him some lip,” adding that the fear minorities faced when being stopped is real.
“It makes you cringe when you hear it. It’s unacceptable,” attorney Suri Chadha Jimenez said.
Abbott’s attorney, Lance LoRusso, however, said that his client was just trying to de-escalate the situation with the woman, whom he described as “uncooperative,” and asked that his client’s comments “be observed in their totality.” LoRusso stated:
Lt. Greg Abbott is a highly respected 28-year veteran of the Cobb County Police Department. He is cooperating with the department’s internal investigation and will continue to do so. His comments must be observed in their totality to understand their context. He was attempting to de-escalate a situation involving an uncooperative passenger. 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.
Bruh.
Is this really what we’re doing today? What context is there that we could possibly have missed that would have excused those comments in any way? Black people are really out here losing their lives, and y’all are making jokes about it.
Anyway, Register insists that the department is going to forge ahead to “service the community in the most professional way.”
“We are going to keep going forward to make sure we, as a police department, service the community in a most professional way—all segments of the community,” Register said.
Let’s hope that starts with firing Abbott.
Read more at WSBTV.