WATCH: Cops Flip Coin to Decide on Jailing Woman for Speeding, Then They Kidnap Her
Roswell, GA -- Sarah Webb, like millions of drivers do on a daily basis, may have traveled a little above the speed limit last April when she was targeted for revenue collection by two Roswell officers. During the routine stop, however, the two cops flipped a coin to decide whether or not they would take her to jail. It was tails, so they kidnapped her and threw her in a cage.
For months, no one, including Webb, knew about the coin flip except for the officers who simply went on their daily routines, facing no accountability. However, reporters from an 11Alive investigation helped to expose the two cops, Officer Courtney Brown and another responding officer, Kristee Wilson.
According to police, Webb was stopped because she drove past Brown who accused her of speeding. Brown also tacked on the charge of reckless driving because the road happened to be wet. There was a problem, however, Brown never recorded Webb speeding and they were out of tickets.
"What do you think?" officer Wilson asked Brown.
As the body camera shows, Brown then admits to Wilson that she has no speed detection device in her car just before Wilson says she has no tickets.
Brown then pulls out her phone and opens a coin flip app. Indicating that they've likely done this sort of thing before the two immediately knew how to act.
Officer Wilson: “A (arrest) head, R (release) tail.”
Officer Brown: “OK (sound of coin flip) laugh.”
Officer Wilson: “This is tail right?”
Officer Brown: “Yeah. So release?”
Wilson wanted no part of the release, however, and she called for an arrest anyway.
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Officer Wilson: “23 (code for arrest).”
Officer Brown: “Michael Jordan? (laugh). Alright, so I’ve got too fast (laugh) for conditions, reckless..”
This entire time, Webb sat patiently in her car, likely expecting a ticket, but having no clue she'd just lost her freedom to a coin flip between two would-be tyrants.
Making no mention of the coin flip, the officers took Webb out of her car, placed her in handcuffs and she was brought to jail -- sobbing the entire time.
Two months would pass before Webb would be contacted by investigators who told her about the coin flip.
"Wow, these people put my freedom in the hands of a coin flip," she said. "And that's disgusting."
When the case went to trial, the prosecutor threw out the charges and let the innocent woman go.
"She said, 'I have watched the videos and I absolutely refuse to prosecute this case'," Webb said.
As 11Alive reports, this traffic stop happened in early April, but Roswell didn't put officers Brown and Wilson on administrative leave before 11Alive started asking questions two months later. An internal affairs investigation is already underway.
Below is the full body camera footage. Notice how the officer is immediately belligerent and demeaning. But, if she is willing to kidnap and cage a young woman for driving over the speed limit, she certainly has to have lost empathy and reason long ago.
