Georgia police use coin toss to decide whether to arrest woman

[July 16, 2018]    (Reuters) - Two police officers in Georgia have been suspended after they used a coin toss to decide whether to arrest a 24-year-old motorist they stopped for speeding, police said.

The officers stopped the motorist in April when she was running late for work at an Atlanta hair salon and sped past them at around 80 miles (130 km) per hour on a wet road, according to a police statement and video footage of the incident released by a local television station.

The two female police officers then discussed whether to give motorist Sarah Webb a speeding ticket or arrest her for reckless driving, according to a police statement released on Friday.

They decided to flip a coin to decide it: heads, arrest; tails, release, according to the statement by the Roswell Police Department.

Officer Courtney Brown used a coin flip app on her mobile phone and the toss went against Webb, with Brown and the other officer, Kristee Wilson, giggling as they began to write up charges, according to the video.

Atlanta news station 11 Alive alerted Webb of the footage. Webb filed a request to see it, and its release led to all charges being dropped against her at a July 9 court hearing.

Webb could not immediately be reached for comment.

"I am appalled that any law enforcement officer would trivialize the decision-making process of something as important as the arrest of a person," Roswell Police Department Chief Rusty Grant said in the statement, adding that an investigation had been launched and the officers were on administrative leave.

(Reporting By Andrew Hay in New Mexico; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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