The Cobb County, Georgia cop who told a white woman that police “only kill black people” will be let go after 28 years on the police force.
Cobb County Police Chief Mike Register said Lt. Gregg Abbott will be fired for making insensitive racial statements during a traffic stop last year.
“I have known Lt. Abbott for years and perceived him as honorable, but he’s made a mistake,” said Chief Register, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I don’t know what is in his heart, but I know what came out of his mouth. We recommend that he be terminated and we are moving forward on that.”
Abbott made the statement after he pulled over a sedan that was driving erratically. He told the female passenger she could use the cell phone in her lap to make a call.
But the nervous white woman told Abbott she was afraid to move her hands because she might get shot — an obvious reference to the large number of unprovoked police shootings of unarmed black people during traffic stops in recent years.
“I’ve just seen way too many videos of cops,” the woman said before Abbott cut her off.
“But you’re not black… Remember, we only kill black people. Yeah, we only kill black people. Right?”
Abbott continued: “All the videos you’ve seen, have you seen black people getting killed?”
Suri Chadha Jimenez, the woman’s lawyer in the DUI case, said Abbott was likely being sarcastic because her client “gave him some lip.”
But she said his statement was still unacceptable.
“It makes you cringe when you hear it,” Jimenez told WSB-TV. “It’s unacceptable.”
