Instead of using their discretion, two police officers in Roswell, Georgia, chose in April to let a coin-flip app decide whether to arrest a woman stopped for speeding.
WXIA-TV obtained body camera video of the incident, and Officer Courtney Brown can be heard asking Sarah Webb if she knows how fast she was going. Webb said she was sorry for speeding, but was late for work. Brown asks Webb to hand over the keys, and then walks to her patrol car, where she asks other officers if she should arrest Webb or give her a ticket.
Brown is heard saying she did not record Webb's speed, and then says, "Hold on," proceeding to open a coin-flip app on her phone, CBS News reports. Officer Kristee Wilson pipes up, and says if it's heads Webb should be arrested, and if it's tails, she should be free to go. The app gives Brown tails, but Wilson suggests she be arrested anyway, and Webb is detained, charged with going too fast for conditions and reckless driving. Those charges were ultimately dropped.
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Police Chief Rusty Grant told CBS News on Friday he was "appalled" that any officers would "trivialize the decision making process of something as important as the arrest of a person," and said as soon as he heard about the incident, an investigation was launched and the two officers were placed on administrative leave. Webb, who said she didn't know about the use of the app until she was contacted weeks later by WXIA, called the incident "degrading."
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