DALTON, Ga. — A Georgia police officer and his colleague have been suspended after they used foul language to discipline some rowdy students. The local police chief said he usually keeps things like these under wraps, but said he felt the community needed to know what happened.
The video above, which has been censored, shows Officer John Gurrieri’s encounter with the kids, and the speech included profanity: “What if she flips the bus over or hits somebody? You think it’s f****** funny…”
Along with veteran officer Steven Collins, he was was dispatched to Glenwood Avenue.
That’s where a bus driver called 911, saying more than 50 kids on her bus were out of control, and she couldn’t focus on driving safely.
“Do ya’ll in the back understand what’s happening? The Dalton Police is coming out here,” the driver says in the video.
When officer Gurrieri arrives, it’s what he says that got him suspended, not how he says it.
“You’re hiding your face,” the officer said in the video. “Look at me like a man. You wanna grow up and be a man? Look at me like a f****** man… She got no tolerance for this s*** cause she expects more out of 12, 13, 14 year olds.”
Throughout the incident, Gurrieri ultimately stayed calm.
Meanwhile, outside, investigators say Officer Collins is swearing at another student that Gurrieri pulled outside. That part is not caught on the tape. Shortly after, Dalton Police Chief Jason Parker said he got a call from a parent who was outraged.
“I was very surprised to hear about this, certainly we don’t expect this kind of behavior from our officers and I wanted to see what the facts are,” he said. “We found out the facts and found out they matched pretty much what the person who complained said.”
