HOSCHTON, Ga. — A small-town elected official is under fire for the way he treated police during a recent traffic stop involving his wife.
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Body camera video shows Hoschton City Councilman Adam Ledbetter confronting police after his wife, Steve Ledbetter, was pulled over for suspected drunk driving in Jefferson last month.
Channel 2′s Tony Thomas obtained body camera video of the arrest, which shows the councilman arriving at the scene and arguing with the officers about whether or not his wife is drunk and about his position as a councilman.
“Does that give her the right to drive drunk?” an officer asks.
“She did not drive drunk,” Ledbetter says. “Are you calling her a drunk?”
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Things get more heated from there as police tell Ledbetter that his wife is going to jail.
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“Get back in your car before you are arrested. Get back in your car before you are arrested,” an officer says.
“Why would I be arrested?” Ledbetter asks.
“I know you, Mr. Ledbetter, but you should know me,” an officer says. “You should get back into your car before I take you to jail with her.”
Ledbetter than accuses an officer of laughing at him, saying “that’s real professional.”
“So is being an elected official and acting like this,” the officer said.
Ledbetter denies that he tried to get special treatment because of his position, but he has admitted to using unprofessional language with City of Jefferson Police.
Ledbetter was ultimately not arrested.
In a statement he sent to Thomas, Ledbetter said that he and his wife have hired an attorney and will have their day in court. He texted Thomas, “I respect law enforcement, but not when they disrespect me.”
The president of the local fraternal order of police said Ledbetter’s actions were extremely unprofessional and unbecoming of an elected official.
“Day in and day out, we go to work, we get physically assaulted and verbally assaulted all day, and we shouldn’t have to put up with it from our elected officials as well,” Drew Akins said.
The Fraternal Order of Police is asking for an apology.
Jefferson’s police chief told Thomas that his officers showed restraint and did everything correctly.
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