SOCIAL CIRCLE, Ga. -- After Social Circle Police officer has been terminated after a confrontation with a passenger during a traffic stop was caught on multiple police cameras.
The department’s police chief told 11Alive the officer pulled over a group of teenagers on Nov. 23 after one of them allegedly yelled an expletive at him out of their car window.
But it’s how the officer reacted that’s got the department calling his actions shocking and embarrassing.
According to documents obtained by 11Alive, officer James Sanders initiated the traffic stop that Thursday without notifying dispatch. The officer pulled the car full of teens over in a fast food restaurant parking lot and began to interrogate the driver, asking which one of them shouted the expletive.
Once he learned the passenger and not the driver was the one who yelled out of the car, he pulled the unidentified 17-year-old out and within seconds challenges him to a fight.
"Why do you want to --- the police son,” Sanders asks the teen.
“I don't,” he responds.
“Then why do you say it? Do you think it's going to make you a bad --- in front of everybody? Do you want to --- the police? Well here I am right here. Why not? You're a tough guy. Come on.
"I'm giving you every opportunity,” Sanders continues. “I'm giving you every opportunity to --- me up. Do you understand?"
VIDEO | Social Circle dash cam video
After getting a complaint from an anonymous citizen, Social Circle Police Chief Tyrone Oliver said he reviewed the dash cam video and began the investigation and termination process.
"When I first saw the video Friday, it was shocking embarrassing," Oliver told 11Alive’s Ron Jones in an interview. “It was just completely uncalled for.”
Sanders, a five-year-veteran of the force, ultimately was fired.
Oliver said in no way was he excusing the teen’s actions, but “the officer’s reactions to that comment were very inappropriate very unprofessional."
The teenagers were never arrested or even cited, but 11Alive wanted to know, what if the juvenile would have accepted the officers challenge to fight.
"If the kid were to take him up on his offer to fight him, then the officer would have had no legal grounds to use any type of force necessary to defend himself,” Oliver said.
11Alive made attempts to locate the officer to get his side of the story but were unsuccessful. The police chief said Sanders did appeal the firing with City Manager's office, however the city upheld the termination.
