Police officers fired after caught on video flipping coin to decide if woman should go to jail

ROSWELL, Ga. — Two police officers in Roswell, Georgia, who flipped a coin to determine if a speeding driver would go to jail have been fired.

WSB-TV confirmed the two Roswell police officers who were caught on video flipping the coin in April were fired on Thursday morning.

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Officer Courtney Brown's body camera video shows that, when she stopped Sarah Webb for speeding past her, she gave Webb a tongue-lashing.

Brown: Stay in the car.

Webb: Sorry, my window doesn't work.

Brown: Officer Brown, Roswell Police Department. Do you know how fast you were just going, ma'am?

Webb: I'm so sorry. I'm late for work.

But when Brown consulted her colleague, she admitted to not having radar.

Officer Kristee Wilson assured Brown there were other ways to cite Webb for speeding.

"I was already having a bad day," Webb said.

Brown and Wilson then let a coin-flip app on Wilson's phone determine whether Webb would be arrested or cited. Webb eventually ended up behind bars.

Earlier this month, Roswell Police Chief Rusty Grant spoke out about the April incident, saying he learned of it from an internal department source.

"I was appalled. I've been a law enforcement professional for almost 40 years and, again, I was appalled to believe that a police officer would let a flip of a coin be the deciding factor in whether to issue someone a citation or, more importantly, take someone into custody," Grant said.

The police chief said he had concern for other police departments as the incident gets national attention.

"The reality is someone will see this story in the state of Washington, and this weekend, someone is going to get stopped by a Washington state police officer and someone's going to make a comment about, 'Hey, did you flip a coin to decide whether or not I get a citation?'" Grant said.

Roswell's mayor, Lori Henry, released a statement a few weeks ago about the incident on her Facebook:

The country has seen the video or read stories in the media about two Roswell police officers using a coin toss app in deciding whether to arrest or ticket a driver that had been pulled over for speeding. Like you, I am shocked and offended by their actions. I find the behavior of these two officers inexcusable and unprofessional. This type of behavior is not and should not be reflective of our police officers in Roswell who protect and serve our community every day. Behavior like this makes a hard job even harder for our professional officers. However, the citizens of Roswell and I trust and honor our protectors and this will not interfere with our respect for the rest of our police department. I ask the citizens of Roswell to support and respect the badge of the Roswell Police Department. The Roswell Police Department's Office of Professional Standards is investigating the incident and the two officers involved have been put on administrative leave, pending the results of the investigation. I want to assure our residents that I expect our police officers to adhere to the highest professional standards in their work and that the actions of these two officers are unacceptable to me and will not be tolerated by the City of Roswell.

Cox Media Group