Two Female Cops Get Fired After Doing This

[Music] welcome to audit the audit where we sort out the who and what and the right and wrong of police interactions this episode covers speeding officer discretion and vehicle searches and is brought to us by police activities channel be sure to check out the description below and give them the credit that they deserve on april 7th 2018 officer courtney brown and officer christy wilson of the roswell police department pulled over georgia resident sarah webb for allegedly speeding on her way to work in duluth georgia after ms webb pulled over officer brown approached the vehicle stay in the car sorry my window doesn't hold off the brown roswell police department you know how fast you were just going ma'am i'm so sorry i'm late for work so you could go over 80 miles per hour on 92. no ma'am you have your driver's license in your insurance card turn off the car and pass me the keys please [Music] the ground's wet it's been raining you're going over 80 miles an hour on this type of a road that's reckless driving ma'am [Music] this is lexisnexis i'm trying to look it up i don't have it printed off give me one second i'll be right with you go for it hey she was going like almost 90 down 92. she flew past me i had to get up to 90 to catch her my cat's not working is yours i checked casey if um can you check the tag too mike i'm gonna have to restart this and see what the deal is alright i'm gonna take i'm gonna take her probably for reckless okay she flew past me going probably 80 85 on 92 in the wet road she said she's running late for work i had to get up to 90 to catch her what do you think i mean i don't have any speed sections at the same time but here officer brown admits that she was not equipped with any speed detection devices to get an accurate measurement of ms webb's speed while the law varies between states in georgia individuals can be convicted of speeding or reckless driving based purely on an officer's visual estimate of their speed georgia's speeding laws are found in section 40-6-180 of the georgia code which reads the quote no person shall drive a vehicle at a speed greater than is reasonable and prudent under the conditions and having regard for the actual and potential hazards then existing and section 40-6-181 which states that no person shall drive a vehicle at a speed in excess of certain maximum limits in the 1992 case of brown versus state the court of appeals of georgia determined that an officer's testimony of his visual estimate of the defendant's speed was legally sufficient to support a speeding conviction holding that quote opinion testimony of an eyewitness may be used to establish speed its credibility being for the jury to determine and such evidence is sufficient to authorize a jury to conclude that the speeding laws have been violated similarly in the 2002 case of stone versus state the court of appeals upheld a conviction based solely on the visual estimate of speed made by an officer because quote an officer's estimate of speed is sufficient to support a conviction on a speeding violation the same evidentiary standard would apply to a reckless driving charge which according to section 40-6-390 of the georgia code occurs when an individual quote drives any vehicle in reckless disregard for the safety of persons or property in the 2003 case of fraser vs state the court of appeals of georgia concluded that quote speeding unaccompanied by other traffic violations can form the basis for a reckless driving conviction if the state presents evidence that a defendant was driving at an excessive rate of speed given the posted speed limit and the driving conditions existing at the time considering these georgia case law precedents a court would almost certainly find that officer brown's testimony regarding her visual estimation of ms webb speed was sufficient evidence to sustain a conviction for speeding and possibly reckless driving although a jury could find that her admission that she did not know the exact speed made her testimony less credible however it's important to recognize that this standard is specific to georgia law and some other states prohibit convictions based solely on visual estimates of speed no but you can use the fact that you were going whatever speed and she went past you it's on camera so you're going to have a back speed you're going to have the fact that you went 90 to catch up to her you're going to have two faster conditions and yeah i mean that's unacceptable i told you i said you know the roads are wet correct you're running late for work and you're going above 80 right to get to work i said call so do not do that and put people's lives in the door so my cat just froze on me so i'm restarting it right now what do you think or just tickets atlanta answer roswell answer hold on are you are you okay yeah sorry she did it unavailable my cat's not working who's that a head our tail okay off camera officer wilson pulls up a coin flip app on her phone and states quote a head r tail meaning that if the coin lands on heads then ms webb should be arrested but if the coin lands on tails she should be released regardless of the result officer brown would have been within her authority to arrest ms webb under both georgia law and the u.s constitution under section 40-6-1 of the georgia code most traffic offenses in the state are criminal misdemeanors including speeding and reckless driving and section 17-4-2 allows officers to arrest individuals for crimes without a warrant if quote the offense is committed in such officers presence even if state law did not allow for arrests for these offenses the supreme court has established a blanket rule that if a warrantless arrest for an offence committed and the officer's presence is supported by probable cause it is constitutionally permissible in the 2001 case of atwater vs city of lago vista the supreme court held that quote if an officer has probable cause to believe that an individual has committed even a very minor criminal offence in his presence he may without violating the fourth amendment arrest the offender despite noting that the incidents of the arrest in question were quote merely gratuitous humiliations imposed by a police officer who was at best exercising extremely poor judgment the supreme court later affirmed and expanded this decision in the 2008 case of virginia vs moore concluding that quote warrantless arrests for crimes committed in the presence of an arresting officer are reasonable under the constitution and that while states are free to regulate such arrests however they desire state restrictions do not alter the fourth amendment's protections given the broad discretion given to officers in making arrests a court would likely uphold the constitutionality of an arrest decision based on a coin toss as long as the arrest was supported by probable cause nonetheless in some jurisdictions these actions would violate departmental policies for example the georgia department of public safety policy manual identifies certain circumstances when traffic offenders can be arrested and all other custodial traffic arrests are prohibited the roswell police department policy and procedures manual on the other hand does not specifically limit traffic arrests but it does require that quote whenever appropriate an officer should use alternatives to physical arrest by issuing citations however by deciding whether to arrest ms webb based on a coin flip the officers likely violated another section of the roswell manual which states that quote police officers having a position of trust and civic responsibility should so conduct themselves as to merit the confidence and respect of the public and fellow officers the policy also requires that officers quote conduct themselves in such a manner as to reflect a favorable image on themselves and the roswell police department members will consider it their duty to be of service to the general public and to render that service in a kind considerate and patient manner 23. michael jordan hi so i got two too fast for let me write this down two faster conditions is it right yeah you can do reckless um and then speeding and you're just gonna have to mark the pace one instead of the i mean either way the speed limit here is what 45 yeah she was going way i mean cause i haven't done one like speeding like that so that's why i'm a little bit unsure a patrol vehicle spot and then it's gonna ask you for moving you're not moving and you're gonna be moving can you help me do these dang tickets my cat won't even log me in [Applause] all right man do me a favor step out of the vehicle for me put the phone down step out of the vehicle turn around put your hands on your breath because ma'am you're driving entirely too fast for conditions you put a lot of people's lives in jeopardy okay [Applause] double locking these foods they don't tighten on you [Applause] you'll be your favorite stuff in front of my vehicle ma'am [Applause] step in front of my control vehicle do you have anything do you have anything do you have anything in your pocket so do you have anything i'll either poke stick or stab me any drugs paraphernalia anything like that okay you have a ron return to the side for me here move on because i'm just gonna take this out okay all right do my favorite stuff over here it's my patrol vehicle have a seat for me [Applause] we're gonna buckle you in okay rdr390r alpha 1 1 and testing alpha one can you please send me 85. [Applause] here officer brown begins searching ms webb's vehicle while officers cannot search an individual's vehicle based solely on a traffic violation there are many instances where officers may conduct warrantless searches of vehicles first it's essential to remember that officers can always search a vehicle with its owner's consent and they do not need probable cause to request permission to search as the supreme court first held in the 1925 case of carroll versus the united states officers can also conduct warrantless searches of automobiles based on probable cause to believe that the vehicle contained evidence of a crime without violating the fourth amendment similarly in the 1991 case of california versus acevedo the supreme court concluded that officers can search closed containers inside of vehicles without a warrant if the search is supported by probable cause however in this situation it appears that officer brown was actually taking an inventory of the items in the vehicle in preparation for it to be towed in the 1976 case of south dakota vs opperman the supreme court explained that quote when vehicles are impounded local police departments generally follow a routine practice of securing and inventorying the automobile's contents these procedures developed in response to three distinct needs the protection of the owner's property while it remains in police custody the protection of the police against claims or disputes over lost or stolen property and the protection of the police from potential danger for this reason when officers searched and inventoried an impounded vehicle the court concluded that quote in following standard police procedures prevailing throughout the country and approved by the overwhelming majority of courts the conduct of the police was not unreasonable under the fourth amendment here the roswell police department policy and procedures manual mandates that quote members of this department will inventory and document the contents of every vehicle being impounded because officer brown appeared to be complying with this policy when searching ms webb's vehicle a court would probably conclude that this search was constitutional you can take your phone with you now your makeup bags and all that is it okay to leave those in the car you know is there any way i can just you can you can make a phone call but that's all you can do if you want to call them you're allowed to call them but okay okay give me one second i'll let you call them okay [Applause] where does he where do you go where did she where okay have a good day sir there's no there's no reason that i should be going down okay ms webb was arrested and charged with going too fast for conditions and reckless driving but the charges were later dropped on july 18 2018 roswell police chief rusty grant denounced the officer's behavior in a video statement posted on facebook and stated that the department was conducting a quote top-down assessment of the department and bringing in an outside consultant to perform an audit on july 26 2018 officer brown and officer wilson were both fired after the internal investigation was completed overall officer brown and officer wilson get an f for exercising poor discretion by choosing to arrest miss webb instead of citing her for speeding violating several aspects of departmental policy and general policing standards and for demonstrating poor character and an overall questionable ethical aptitude there is no doubt that a majority of officer brown's conduct was lawful however it could certainly be argued that while officer brown's actions didn't necessarily violate the law there are serious ethical questions to be raised about hinging the decision to arrest someone on the flip of a coin a large part of police work is making the most reasonable and ethical decision possible within the bounds of an officer's authority most officers are required to take the law enforcement oath of honor along with their oaths to the federal and state constitution the oath of honor explicitly promotes accountability in maintaining high ethical standards and officers who neglect to consider the ethicality of their decisions are essentially betraying this oath and failing to fulfill half of their job description officer brown and officer wilson demonstrated behavior that trivialized the social and financial impact of being arrested and diminished the department's relationship with its community and i commend the roswell police department for taking the appropriate action to address their officer's misconduct as for ms webb i cannot rightfully issue a grade to an individual who had no control over the dynamics or outcome of this interaction at any point when officer brown initially approached ms webb and informed her that she was traveling over 80 miles per hour it seemed to genuinely shock her and officer brown later admitted that she didn't really know how fast ms webb was going this brings the entire stop into question and there is an argument to be made that no verifiable evidence exists to show that this stop was initiated on a lawful basis ultimately all the charges against ms webb were dropped and although she was visibly upset in the body camera footage her ability to remain calm and compliant likely contributed to her charges being dismissed i commend ms webb for carrying herself well throughout the interaction and for following up the encounter with the proper channel of complaint let us know if there is an interaction or legal topic you would like us to discuss in the comments below thank you for watching and don't forget to check out my second channel for even more police interaction content [Music] you

Channel: Audit the Audit

Views: 11,527,794

Keywords: amagansett press, first amendment audit, 1st amendment audit, auditing america, news now california, sgv news first, high desert community watch, anselmo morales, photography is not a crime, san joaquin valley transparency, first amendment audit fail, walk of shame, news now houston, police fail, 1st amendment audit fail, public photography, auditor arrested, police brutality, highdesert community watch, pinac news, cops triggered, news now patrick, east hampton

Id: l4FQTglHwZ0

Length: 16min 41sec (1001 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 11 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

[removed]

[u/Alive_Anything4006]

What is the most you've ever lost on a coin toss?

[u/[deleted]]

The defendant was white and in Georgia it goes a long way to get justice.

Overall, policing authorities in America is atrocious for a democracy. The police power to abuse the rights is no better than communist countries.

[u/HistoricalMarzipan61]

Brings a whole new meaning to being two-faced.

[u/dafijiwatr]

Is the course material that cops study open to the public? Because…. Uhhh what?

[u/Lighting]

The story isn't new, but the retelling/analysis of it is so I thought it was worth posting here.

[u/DisturbingPragmatic]

I'm surprised they weren't promoted...

[u/ZZZ-Top]

She moved to another county but the sheriff there wasnt having it and made sure she stayed on a desk

[u/Linktank]

Seems like it could be a 2 minute video. Not spending 16 minutes on this.