Man on video making racist remarks claims to be 'Augusta police' but is not active officer
A man who tried to get out of paying for a tow by claiming to be an Augusta law enforcement officer and then making racist remarks is not currently employed by the department, according to the Richmond County Sheriff's Office.
In a video posted by Tennessee-based Everything Auto & Towing to their YouTube channel, an unidentified man and a female companion are heard saying multiple expletives about the hotel employees they say told them to park in a reserved lot that led to a tow truck being called.
In a call to find out if the company had his vehicle, the man first asks – around the 10-minute mark – if there is a discount the company can give him for being an "Augusta police officer." Later when retrieving the vehicle, he says, "As a police officer back in Augusta, Georgia, we would always say, 'Hey, make contact with this person.'"
"There's a lack of communication when these people don't speak English," the woman says at the 16-minute mark.
Almost 8,000 people have watched the interaction since the video was uploaded to the tow company's channel Wednesday night and the tow truck operator has posted a follow-up video. Most comments praise the tow operator's calm demeanor and denounce the racist rhetoric, including some comments posted by people identifying themselves as police.
"I understand folks get upset when they get towed away," said Everything Auto & Towing owner Jeff Patton when reached by phone Thursday morning. "He represented himself as a police officer and said unfortunate things in the process."
Patton started recording his tows and posting interactions to YouTube three years ago. He said two separate calls came in about the man's white, Chevrolet Silverado 2500 pickup truck. The space the vehicle was parked in is reserved for City of Gatlinburg employees.
A Richmond County Sheriff's Office spokesman confirmed the man in the video was employed by the department more than 10 years ago but said he is not currently working for the department.
"I was disturbed by the comments – it’s not something we would tolerate from any active duty people that work here." Internal Affairs Sgt. William McCarty said. "We have no jurisdiction in Gatlinburg, but he’s falsely impersonating a police officer and if that’s something they wanted to pursue they could."
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Man towed, heard making racist remarks, claims to be Augusta police
