Clayton County Commissioner Felicia Franklin-Warner said she expects to talk during her Thursday radio show about the controversy over Clayton Police holding a gun on teens earlier this week.
Warner, who represents the Jonesboro district in which the incident happened, said it will be part of her weekly “The Community Speaks” show at 2 p.m. on Mixx106radio.com.
Warner has pushed back on criticism of the Clayton Police Department’s handling of the situation, saying the officer involved and the chief of police have been transparent about what happened.
“Our chief has done an amazing job,” Warner said in an interview early Thursday. “He’s opened up everything he can open up with this. You can tell by the way this didn’t escalate that these guys are well trained.”
A Clayton officer on Monday, responding to a call from a gas station clerk that teens were playing with a gun, pulled out his revolver while talking to the group of boys. The incident was caught on video by passersby, which has led to days of uproar. (The boys said they had a BB gun, which they later threw into nearby bushes).
The confrontation came just days after last weekend’s fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks by an Atlanta police officer in the parking lot of a Wendy’s restaurant. Concern over the Clayton incident also has been heightened by national tensions over the shooting of black men by police, including the May death of George Floyd in Minneapolis that has sparked worldwide protests.
Detractors of the Clayton Police Department's handling of the Monday confrontation argue that the officer could have used a Taser instead of reaching for his sidearm. But Clayton Police Chief Kevin Roberts said that would have not helped an officer responding to a call about a firearm.
Warner said protests against the police response are misplaced. She said those who watched portions of the confrontation that popped up online should watched the 17 minutes of bodycam footage released by police.
“Even when we sent out the proper information, some people in the community were choosing not to pay attention to it,” she said.
