DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ga. — Douglasville police are investigating a Saturday afternoon incident that, according to witnesses, involved a convoy of Confederate Battle Flag-bearing pickup trucks interrupting a black child’s birthday party with racial slurs and threats of violence.
One of at least two cellphone videos from the incident shows Douglasville police officers holding back a group of black men and women as at least seven pickup trucks drive off. The trucks’ white passengers wave as the Confederate, American and military flags mounted on the vehicles flap in the air.
“This is a child’s birthday party,” one woman in the crowd can be heard saying.
The woman who shared the video, Melissa Alford, said the trucks were on her property and their passengers were armed and threatened to “kill y’all [N-words].” Alford said she is most upset because no one was arrested and now she’s worried for her safety. She said an officer told her at the scene it was because the threats and weapons were not captured on video.
"They could come back because they were free to go. They allowed these people to go,” Alford said.
Channel 2’s Matt Belanger went to Douglasville Police and was told no one would be doing an on-camera interview about the ongoing investigation. Instead, the department released a statement which says Douglasville police are still reviewing video of the incident to determine if any crimes were committed and there is no evidence of shots fired and no injuries were reported.
“We're being publicized as the KKK and that's not us,” said Levi Bush, who identified himself as a driver of one of the pickup trucks.
Bush told Belanger the group was driving around conducting a fundraiser and the reason they stopped on the grass near the birthday party was because he got a flat tire. Bush said people at the predominately-black birthday party approached his group in a hostile manner and that’s when the situation escalated.
"Do you think this was a giant misunderstanding?” Belanger asked.
“I think it could have been because we had black people with us in our caravan and Mexican people with us," Bush said.
“Officers on scene were given conflicting statements as to what led up to the confrontation,” the police department’s statement said.
“I’m okay with the flags, I’m okay with riding around with the flags,” Alford said. “I’m not okay with them going around threatening people and using racial slurs. I’m not okay with that.“
WSBTV
