A white police officer in Alpharetta, Georgia was suspended after an incident where he allegedly got rough with a 65-year-old black woman during a traffic stop last Friday.
As police dashcam video shows, another officer had pulled over Rose Campbell for not staying in her lane, but she refused to sign the ticket, believing that meant admitting guilt. After going back and forth a bit, with Campbell still refusing to sign, the officer said he was arresting her for disorderly conduct and asked her to step out of the car. She refused to do that either. A second officer showed up to help, but to no avail.
That’s when a third cop, later identified as James Legg, showed up, and things escalated pretty quickly. The video allegedly shows Legg screaming at Campbell.
“Hey! You’re not in charge! Shut the fuck up and get out of the car!” the officer can be heard yelling.
As Campbell was finally getting out of the car, with the other two officers assisting her, Legg then allegedly grabbed her, forcibly pulled her arm, and aggressively restrained her.
The whole time, Campbell can be heard calling for a supervisor.
“I didn’t expect that in America,” Campbell told local WSB. “I didn’t expect that in Atlanta. I didn’t expect that especially in Alpharetta.”
The city’s Department of Public Safety released the footage in an effort to maintain transparency with the community.
“If we are going to be 100 percent transparent, that means that we also must be willing to share any major concerns that arise regarding employee performance and behavior,” Alpharetta Public Safety Chief John Robison said in an introduction to the dashcam footage.
“There are aspects of this video that you’re likely about to watch that simply do not represent who we are as an organization.”
Robison went on to say that after seeing the video, he “immediately ordered an internal affairs investigation be opened on the incident.” Robison told local WSB that Officer Legg was immediately suspended.
Campbell has retained a civil rights attorney, but had not decided whether she was going to take any action against the police. She did say that she doesn’t want Legg to be fired, but she does want to him to face disciplinary action.
“They need to be put on suspension, disciplinary action without pay. That normally works in the brain,” she said. “I don’t like the issue of firing people. I think everyone has a space for redemption.”
[Image via screengrab]
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