ByMariah Congedo|April 24, 2021 at 10:43 PM EDT - Updated April 24 at 10:50 PM
BRYAN COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) - A tense interaction between a Bryan County Sheriff’s deputy and a man was caught on video, and the Sheriff is now addressing the video after it went viral on social media.
“It could’ve easily escalated to something that would’ve been harmful and that’s not what we’re about,” said Sheriff Mark Crowe of the Bryan County Sheriff’s Office.
Crowe says deputies responded to a call at a gas station back in January where a disturbance was taking place. He says a bystander on scene, who wasn’t involved in the incident, was recording and that’s when Deputy Cameron approached him. The video surfaced just days ago.
“We know that it is legal for someone to film us and we know that,” said Crowe.
In the video, Deputy Cameron first asks the man sitting in his car what he’s doing. He tells the deputy he’s filming to which the deputy says it’s okay for him to do.
“I think he was well within the rights to make sure that there was nothing fishy going on, that they were not in harm’s way so to speak,” said Crowe.
However, the banter continues and Crowe says at one point it seems like the deputy was trying to block the camera. This is what the sheriff says crossed the line.
“When he stepped across that line, I didn’t need to see anymore from there. I knew then, this is not right,” said Crowe.
The deputy also begins asking for the man’s ID and he tells him no because he wasn’t doing anything wrong. Crowe says he’s glad the arguing stopped before it escalated further, but it lasted several minutes.
“This is not what I want as a sheriff. This is not what I want my officers to be engaged in,” said Crowe.
Crowe says Deputy Cameron is a good deputy and has since apologized for his actions. He’s also taking another course in ethics and professionalism.
“We will remain transparent and there will be accountability,” said Crowe.
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