Ebony Thomas mentioned she had no thought why Atlanta police had been pulling her over throughout a Jan. 26 site visitors cease in southeast Atlanta. She was much more confused when the officer demanded she unlock the door.
Thomas turned on her cellphone video to seize their interplay.
“Step out the automotive,” the officer tells Thomas, who lives in Florida.
She resists.
“If I let you know once more, I’m going to tug your a– out of the f—ing automotive,” the officer warns her.
She declines, later telling Fox 5 in Atlanta she was afraid to maneuver as a result of she feared being shot.
“The best way he’s so aggressive, I’m like, ‘What’s happening? What simply occurred?; ” Thomas mentioned. “He yanks my seatbelt off and pulled me out the automotive. I had on silver flip-flops. The sneakers had been within the driver’s aspect on the ground, that’s simply how arduous he pulled me.”
The officer tells a special story, saying within the incident report that Thomas “instantly turned upset and defensive” when he approached her automotive for the window tint violation.
“Ms. Thomas refused handy me her license a number of instances known as me a monkeyand acknowledged that she would give it to me,” wrote the officer, including he might scent “the odor of marijuana” coming from her automobile.
He mentioned he repeatedly requested her to exit the automobile, and he or she refused.
Thomas’ Mercedes had a window tint permitting simply 9 p.c of sunshine, nicely under Georgia’s authorized restrict of 34 p.c, the officer wrote. She was additionally charged with obstructing an officer, a misdemeanor.
Thomas and her pal had been handcuffed because the officer searched her 2021 Mercedes CLA. The male passenger admitted to smoking pot earlier than Thomas picked her up, she mentioned, although he was not arrested.
The 43-year-old grandmother insists she had accomplished nothing unlawful. A feminine police recruit on the scene backed her up, Thomas mentioned.
“She’s like, ‘You might be proper. You didn’t do nothing,’” Thomas mentioned. “I mentioned, ‘You might be admitting I did nothing, however I’m nonetheless being arrested and detained?’”
The officer later launched the male passenger and allowed him to go, however Thomas went straight to the Fulton County Jail.
On the best way there, Thomas mentioned she heard the officer say, “I’m taking her to jail as a result of her mouth is slick.”
Thomas mentioned she spent $3,700 to bond out of jail.
Atlanta police mentioned they’re reviewing the incident. Thomas has filed a grievance with the Inside Affairs division alleging extreme power.
