COOPERTOWN, Tenn. (AP/NewsChannel 5) - The Coopertown city mayor has fired a reserve police officer and disbanded the police reserve unit after fallout from dash camera video.
Coopertown Mayor Sam Childs fired Robert McCormick Wednesday. It came weeks after the police car recording caught racial slurs in a conversation between McCormick and Richard Bishop.
The conversation was about McCormick taking the driver's license of black motorist Eddie Brown in mid-May after Brown pulled over when he saw a police car close behind him.
Brown complained to the city about how McCormick had treated him during the stop. The audio catches the officers using profanity and ethnic slurs.
"That (expletive) (expletive) complained on me," said McCormick, who didn't like that the mayor spoke with Brown. "Well you know the mayor is a liberal (expletive). Here he's done made love to the damn (expletive) who lives in Springfield."
The two then discuss what McCormick should have done instead of letting Brown go without a ticket.
"You should have pistol whipped his ass. I know it. Given him a reason to complain. I know it. Black son of a (expletive)."
Brown said he felt he was initially stopped by McCormick only because he was black. Now, he believes the audio confirms it.
Childs had originally ordered the officers to undergo sensitivity training, but they kept their badges and guns.
Earlier this week, Walter Searcy with the NAACP called on the TBI to investigate. Brown is considering a civil rights lawsuit.
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(The Associated Press Contributed To This Report.)
