Georgia police officers toss coin to decide whether to arrest woman

  • 15/07/2018

Two US police officers have been placed on administrative leave after tossing a coin to decide whether to arrest a woman.

Officer Courtney Brown pulled over Sarah Webb, 24, after she caught her speeding on a wet Georgia road.

Ms Webb said she had been running late for her shift where she works as a hairstylist, and apologised for speeding.

In body camera footage, Officer Brown can be heard chastising Ms Webb.

"The ground's wet. It's been raining. You're going over 80 miles an hour on this type of a road. That's reckless driving, ma'am."

She then collects Ms Webb's licence and keys and returns to her police vehicle.

In the car, Officer Brown discusses whether to arrest Ms Webb or just give her a ticket with colleague Officer Kristee Wilson. One of the officers says, "A, head. R, tail," - A for arrest, or R for release. Then a sound effect can be heard - a cartoonish chime and click, a coin flipping and landing in a coin-toss app. The app landed on tail, meaning release, and yet the officers still put Ms Webb in handcuffs minutes later.

Ms Webb initially requested the body cam footage directly from the police station and was denied. With the help of journalists from NBC affiliate 11Alive, the footage was eventually provided to her two months later.

With this evidence, the charges against her were dropped and both Officer Brown and Officer Wilson were placed on administrative leave.

"To think that these are the people who are supposed to be helping us and looking out for us. My freedom was put at risk because of a coin flip. It was a game to them," Ms Webb told the New York Times.

"I just don't want this to happen to anybody else because the next person might not get so lucky."

Newshub.