The attorney representing a Cobb County police officer involved in a racially charged traffic stop says his client did nothing wrong, other than being rude to a motorist.
Lance LoRusso, a former police officer who also serves as general counsel for the Georgia Fraternal Order of Police, said Thursday that there is no evidence that Officer Maurice Lawson’s conduct during the Nov. 16 traffic stop was motivated by race, as some in the community have argued.
The County Attorney’s Office has completed its investigation into recommended discipline for the officer, LoRusso said. While he would not say what the recommendation is, he called it “grossly excessive.” The officer has until Wednesday to respond.
“The bottom line: was he rude? Yeah,” LoRusso said. But “that’s his office and he’s a human being. How much rudeness do you expect a police officer to take before they are rude to someone (in return)? Should that rudeness cost him his career?”
Command staff has already determined that Lawson, who is white, violated departmental policy during the encounter with African-American motorist Brian Baker, a middle school teacher from Fulton County. The interaction, captured on Lawson's dash board video camera, includes Lawson telling Baker "I don't care about your people," and then asking Lawson if he wanted to get out of his car to talk.
After Baker drove off, Lawson can be heard telling two other officers at the scene: “I lose my cool, man, every time. Why do I got to deal with (stuff) like that. This is the (expletive) America we live in, ain’t it?”
Several people in community groups have taken those comments to mean that Lawson does not care about African Americans, and have called for his termination.
Captain J.D. Adcock issued a letter of apology to Baker on Nov. 24, which said in part that Lawson committed a "very serious" breach of the department's Code of Conduct.
Adcock and the police command staff also has come under scrutiny. Public Safety Director Sam Heaton has asked the county attorney to look at other aspects of the case, such as why the dashcam video was turned over to Baker’s attorney without an Open Records Act request, and why Adcock reduced two traffic citations to warnings outside of the court system. That portion of the investigation is ongoing.
LoRusso said police leadership also did nothing wrong — that they have the discretion to reduce tickets to warnings, and that releasing the video was done to be transparent.
Baker’s attorney, Kimberly Bandoh, said tickets are often reduced to warnings but that it is a decision typically made by a prosecutor.
“It’s a conversation between the prosecutor and the police officer, not a captain outside of the court system,” Bandoh said.
LoRusso took issue with the motorist, who verbally sparred with Lawson and other officers on the scene. Baker told one officer they were acting like “Gestapo.”
“This is a man who teaches children,” LoRusso said. “This man’s behavior was well outside the bounds of the law.”
Lawson was the officer involved in an incident with County Commissioner Lisa Cupid, who is African American, which led the commissioner to complain that she had been racially profiled and that the officer was there to "harass and intimidate, not protect and serve."
Ben Williams, president of the Cobb chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Coalition, is one of several community activists who has called for Lawson’s termination. He said his position remains unchanged.
“The handling of this issue has tremendous importance,” Williams said. It will either show that law enforcement in Cobb is trying to address problems, he said, “or it will be a point of confirmation of (the opposite, which) many of us have been led to conclude after having worked with and observed police practices in Cobb County.”
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