Police dash cam footage of Cobb County officer Lieutenant Greg Abbott during a traffic stop was aired this week
ADVERTISEMENTA Georgia police officer who told a woman during a traffic stop not to worry because police “only kill black people” has retired.
It comes after the video was aired on Wednesday by WSB-TV in Atlanta and authorities sought his dismissal.
In the dash cam video Cobb County police officer Lieutenant Greg Abbott is seen standing by a car he pulled over in July last year. He tells the woman in the front passenger seat to use her cellphone to make a call.
“Ok, I just don’t want to put my hands down,” the woman responds, adding that she’s seen “way too many videos of cops,” before trailing off.
“But you’re not black,” Abbott replies. “Remember we only kill black people. Yeah we only kill black people, right? All the videos you’ve seen have you seen white people get killed?”
Cobb County Police Chief Mike Register told a news conference: “I’ve already said that in no context can I tolerate this kind of language. And so I don’t really think that we can sit here and justify any type of language when the verbage is what we heard on that video.”
In an email Abbott’s attorney, Lance LoRusso said the officer was trying to de-escalate a situation involving an uncooperative passenger and that his comments must be observed in their totality to understand their context.
Numerous videos from dash cams, body-worn cameras and cellphones in recent years have shown U.S. police officers killing unarmed black people during encounters, sparking debate
about excessive use of force and racial disparities in the criminal justice system.
I tell people all the time that once you leave the City of Atlanta, you’re in GEORGIA. Cobb County is racist as hell. Always has been. https://t.co/t1AijGpIa3
— Torraine Walker (@TorraineWalker) August 31, 2017
Talking to
tmz</a> abt the recent video of Cobb County police officer (Lt. Abbott) telling a woman that officers “only kill black people" <a href="https://t.co/T4d6QQI548">pic.twitter.com/T4d6QQI548</a></p>— Reverend Al Sharpton (TheRevAl) August 31, 2017