The police chief of a small Georgian town resigned and a patrolman was fired last week after the two were captured on a video camera in a “horrible” and racist conversation about slavery, blacks being shot by the police and Stacey Abrams .
The video conversation in June between Hamilton’s chief of police Gene Allmond and Officer John Brooks began with the two men discussing the recent fatal shooting of a black man by a police officer. The video was released by the city to local media and viewed by NBC News. It is unclear what happened immediately before the video started recording.
Brooks begins by telling what a Fox News commentator had to say about the shooting, in which the black man grabbed a policeman’s stun gun and pointed it at him.
“What they’re saying now is, ‘Well, they didn’t have to shoot him, it’s just a Taser,'” Brooks said mockingly. “So how is it that when you fuck a n —– it’s like you kill him 27 times?”
“The mayor there, she already fired the police … without a hearing,” added Brooks.
He appeared to be talking about the murder of Rayshard Brooks, 27, and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Hamilton is about 90 miles south of Atlanta.
“They say she is now the favorite to be the candidate for Joe Biden’s vice president,” Brooks continued.
“Are you kidding,” replied Allmond.
Both Bottoms and Abrams, the former minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives, were running for President Joe Biden’s nomination for vice president.
After ignoring a call, saying it is in another city, the two continue the conversation.
“Protests – these fucking people,” said Allmond. “I didn’t have any slaves, my parents didn’t have any slaves. What are we talking about 200 years ago?”
Brooks said he did research on his family’s history and found evidence of slave ownership by his relatives.
It made Allmond laugh.
“I know that many were mistreated; I have no doubt about it. But for the most part, it seems to me that they were given a home to live in, provided them with clothes to wear on their backs, they provided food to put on the table, and everything they had to do was f — work, “said Allmond. “And now, we give them all of these things, and they don’t have to fucking work.”
Buddy Walker, assistant to the Mayor of Hamilton, Julie Brown, said the footage was captured before a Black Lives Matter rally in the city last June.
He said it was only recently discovered when City Hall questioned why the police were not using their body cameras and the police said the cameras were not working. After further investigation, the cameras were full, Walker said. Before excluding the footage, a city official examined it to make sure he was not excluding anything important.
The city official found the footage from Allmond and Brooks, then notified Mayor Pro Tem Ransom Farley, who oversees the police. Farley, who is black, and Walker watched the video on Monday, January 25.
“Ransom and I have been friends for at least 40 years,” Walker told NBC News, in a choked voice. “Sorry, it gets a little emotional … His reaction was enough to break your heart.”
“We watched the first half, he got up and left the room until he could calm down, and we watched the rest,” said Walker.
As soon as the city attorney and the mayor saw the video, Brooks and Allmond had the option to resign or be fired, according to a statement by Hamilton city attorney Ron Iddins.
Brooks asked to see the footage and after watching it, chose to resign. “He was instructed to return the equipment from the city and pick up his belongings on Tuesday morning. He did not. So on Wednesday he was fired,” said Iddins.
Allmond also chose to resign, said Iddins, adding: “The next morning, we found his equipment and the resignation letter taped to the computer monitor at the police station.”
None of the officers thought the body camera was working, said Iddins.
Brooks tried to apologize to Farley on Monday night, Walker said. Brooks added “the classic; ‘this is not really how I am'”, according to Walker.
Farley did not accept his apology.
“That was painful for him,” said Walker.
“I’m 74 – I grew up in the South. You know, I’ve heard a lot in my life, but I can honestly say, without a doubt, that it was the most unbelievable and horrifying video I really think I saw,” said Walker. “It’s like a nightmare, honestly.”
Although neither Brooks nor Allmond had previous official complaints against them, anonymous complaints against them have started to emerge since the video appeared, according to Walker.
Walker said he was at the Black Lives Matter rally for which the two officers were preparing when the footage was captured.
“We were restless on that particular day,” recalls Walker. “It was pretty obvious that the two Hamilton city police officers were not there to protect the BLM rally.”
Efforts to contact Brooks and Allmond by phone were unsuccessful on Monday. Iddins said on Monday that none of the officers were heard.