Bob CollinsThe Alpharetta, Georgia police chief invoked the “this is not who we are” reaction to the latest display of police escalating a situation, releasing a video on Facebook that shows five police officers — all white men — wrestling a 65-year-old African American.
She wouldn’t sign her traffic ticket.
“As you’ll see, this was a complicated issue due to the age of the driver as the officer did not want to hurt her,” the chief writes on his Facebook page. “Back-up was requested and available officers responded to the scene, some of which responded to handle traffic control along Windward Pkwy.”
But there was one cop who “does not reflect who we are.”
“I just panicked. I felt like my heart exploded,” Rose Campbell, 65, tells a local TV station.
She she doesn’t think the officer should be fired.
The city won’t have. He resigned this morning.
“I feel I acted appropriately and the way that I was trained when I arrested Ms. Campbell,” he said in his resignation letter.
I did what was necessary to complete the arrest by raising my voice and using verbal commands using heavy control talk with profanity. It worked instantly and she exited the vehicle immediately! When the other officers did not immediately restrain and handcuff her I then freed her from her grasp on the seatbelt and she was escorted to the police vehicle. All force ceased and the arrest was now over. I judged her actions to be passive resistance and used very limited force to end a multiple minute encounter with the suspect.
Maybe I should not have used profanity, but its immediate effectiveness is not questionable and I do believe I acted reasonably under the circumstances.
“[I] will not subject myself to the investigation of an agency Chief who would rather care about public perception and political correctness over officer, suspect and the general public’s safety,” he said.
