Officer fired after profanity-laced traffic stop with teen
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Published 2016-12-05
Social Circle Police Chief Tyrone Oliver said, along with threatening and cursing out a 17-year-old boy during a traffic stop on November 23, former Officer James Sanders violated policies. Oliver decided to fire Sanders, an 8-year-veteran on the force, Thursday.
Oliver said an anonymous woman called asking him to investigate, after she said, Sanders pulled over a car and "cussed out" teenagers. The Chief reviewed body camera and dash cam video from the incident.
He said it showed Sanders at a traffic stop with another officer when a black Jeep rode by. Sanders heard one of the four passengers in the Jeep yell, "F---- the Police." At that point, he followed the car and pulled it over on North Cherokee Road, according to Oliver.
In the footage, Sanders can be seen yelling at the occupants. He also singled out the teenager who admitted to yelling the profanity-laced remark. Oliver said Sanders also urged the teenager to fight him.
"The teen kept saying, 'No, I don't want to do it.' And he's like, 'No, you're a tough guy...,'" Oliver said.
Oliver told FOX 5's Marissa Mitchell the video also shows Sanders threatening to search the Jeep and its passengers to see if they had marijuana.
"He did state that he pulled them over for failure to maintain lane. When you look at the video, the vehicle did hit the white line but it was after he was coming up on them with a high rate of speed," Oliver insisted.
Oliver added Sanders has three other disciplinary actions on his record, including a written reprimand in 2014 for allegedly threatening staff at a high school while on duty. Oliver said school officials weren't happy with
security Sanders provided and wanted to talk with him before paying him. In turn, Sanders threatened to mail anthrax to the school and "blow up" the building, according to the police chief. Oliver also said Sanders received an oral warning in 2013 for refusing to transport money from municipal court to the city hall and he was given a written warning for failing to turn in activity sheets in January 2016.
"In this profession, we have to have tough skin. People say stuff to us all the time and you got to let it roll off your back and do your job and do it right," Oliver said.
All Comments (21)
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Imagine being on the force for 8 years and then getting fired because some kid hurt your feelings.
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8 year veteran- what a joke. I remember when 'veteran' used to actually mean something.
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Kid yells "F the police!" Cop retroactively justifies it.
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and he was hired 20 minutes later 2 towns over.
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If you can't handle a little bit of name-calling don't be a police officer.
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He's probably still a cop, just working somewhere else.
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I have felt like doing this to teens many times. But I didn’t. A man has to have self control.
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With a police chief like that, they might earn enough respect that folks will stop calling them assholes as they drive past.
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Any bets that this guy after being fired by one police department just moved on down the road to only be hired by another department?
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Just another cop feeling like they are above the laws they enforce.
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That's how a real chief police deals with this aggression. Imagine how that officer treats his family behind closed doors.
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This kid didn't disrespect the officer, he disrespected his government. The notion that your government will take this action for disrespecting it is downright scary.
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The bully cop got what he deserved he's just been getting away with it too long!
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This needs to happen more often - Fire bad police officers.
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A chief of police that holds his police officers accountable...great job chief.
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I can’t believe this, finally a peaceful end to a tyrant, but how many are out there ⁉️🧐🤔
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1st Amendment Rights and 4th Amendment doesn’t matter to these privileged cops, who are just an organized, legalized gang.
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Now there is a Chief of Police you can respect. The overweight cursing cop had no authority to demand the occupants disembark from the vehicle nor did he have a right to threaten a search for there was no probable cause... how many times do we hear cops cuss??? well i just honor this Chief Tyrone Oliver.
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I respect the Chief so much. THANK YOU SIR!
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Officer “Would You Like Some Fries With That?”
