A woman who was caught allegedly speeding past a police cruiser in Georgia had her fate decided by a coin toss, shocking bodycam video shows.
Sarah Webb drove past the cruiser in April, and was pulled over.
As she sat in her car, damning vision obtained by 11Alive shows officer Courtney Brown return to the patrol vehicle to consult fellow officer Kristee Wilson on what she should do.
Two officers from Roswell Police in Georgia decided whether or not to arrest a woman based off the flip of a coin in April, and the whole thing was caught on their body cameras
Sarah Webb was pulled over after allegedly speeding past a police cruiser on her way to work
Sarah told the officer she was late for work, and received a passionate lecture on road safety from officer Courtney Brown
Noting the pavement was wet, Brown decided to add a charge of reckless driving, but both noted Wilson did not have speed detection in her car or tickets.
With their options only to arrest Sarah and take her to jail or to release her, Brown turned to a coin for help.
Opening an app on her phone, the officers agreed if it landed on heads, she would be arrested, and if it landed on tails, she would be released.
The coin landed on tails.
But perhaps forgetting, or not caring, Wilson called for Sarah’s arrest, using the code ’23’.
Laughing, Brown gets out of the car to take Sarah into custody.
As she is led towards the car, Webb begins to cry, and body cam shows the hair stylist sobbing in the back seat of the patrol car.
Because officer Courtney Brown did not have any tickets on her, the only options were to release Sarah or arrest her
Officer Brown opened a coin flip app on her phone to help make the important decision
When the arrest was made, Sarah was seen crying, before breaking down in the back of the police car
Brown and her fellow officer, Kristee Wilson, were placed on leave for their actions, but not until the department was contacted by media about Sarah’s arrest
Though the event happened in April, it was not until recently, when Roswell Police Department were contacted about Brown and Wilson’s conduct, that they were placed on leave and an investigation was launched.
When Sarah faced court this week, the prosecutor revealed she had seen the video and told her she would not prosecute the case.
Sarah’s mother Teresa shared a clip of the footage on Facebook, sharing her anger at the actions of her local law enforcement officers.
‘It makes me so upset seeing [Sarah] crying. It makes me so upset to know what they have done to her,’ she wrote.
‘Sarah could have lost her job and she could have lost her license. This caused a big financial hardship to our family.’
Her mother, Teresa, told Facebook friends the arrest could have cost Sarah her job and her license, on top of the financial burden it had already caused