A Georgia police officer is under investigation after being captured on camera telling a woman that police “only kill black people.”
The officer on the video, who has been identified as Lt. Greg Abbott by Cobb County police Chief Mike Register, was reportedly pulling the woman over for a DUI stop. She then told Abbott that she was afraid to move her hands and reach for her cell phone because she did not want to get shot.
That is apparently when Abbott said, “Remember, we only kill black people. We only kill black people, right?”
Suri Chadha Jimenez, who is representing the woman in the case, said that he believes the officer was being sarcastic with the woman because she “gave him some lip.”
“It makes you cringe when you hear it. It’s unacceptable,” Jimenez said, adding that the fear that minorities have of being shot during police stops is real and should not be belittled.
Abbott’s attorney Lance LoRusso has since issued a statement as well, per Channel 2 Action News:
Lt. Greg Abbott is a highly respected 28-year veteran of the Cobb County Police Department. He is cooperating with the department’s internal investigation and will continue to do so. His comments must be observed in their totality to understand their context. He was attempting to de-escalate a situation involving an uncooperative passenger. In context, his comments were clearly aimed at attempting to gain compliance by using the passenger’s own statements and reasoning to avoid making an arrest.