This is the moment cops appear to do nothing amid a drive-by shooting in Atlanta as residents of the wealthy Buckhead area say it's a ...
This is the moment cops appear to do nothing amid a drive-by shooting in Atlanta as residents of the wealthy Buckhead area say it's a 'warzone' and demand to secede.
The video, which was played on Tucker Carlson Tonight, shows people lining up near a dark-colored van that is parked on the side of the road when a white car passes by and shots ring out, with one going straight through the dark van, striking one of the passersby and sending people scrambling.
A few seconds later, blue lights could be seen reflecting off the windshield of the black van, symbolizing police cars passing by and not stopping at the scene in the wealthy Buckhead neighborhood.
Bill White, the CEO and chairman of the Buckhead City Committee - which represents a wealthy Atlanta neighborhood so terrorized by rising crime they want to secede from the city - said he was horrified by the video.
He said the police cars were properly marked and had their lights on. They did not stop, he said, but did call an ambulance and 'rendered help at the scene.'
'This video is horrifying,' White said when he showed it to Carlson Monday night.
Video from the incident shows people lining up near a dark-colored van parked on the side of the road in the wealthy Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia
A white car passing by starts shooting at the van, making the people scramble as a bullet punches through the side of the van
A few moments later a police car is seen driving past the scene but does not stop
Violent crimes in the nice suburban neighborhood of Buckhead
White said his friend who took the video asked the police officers afterwards why they didn't chase the suspect, and was allegedly told that Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms 'issued an order not to chase cars around Atlanta because she doesn't want the police getting in accidents.'
But it appears to be the police department itself that introduced the measure. In January 2020, former Police Chief Erika Shields halted police pursuits all together, deciding they put people in too much danger after three people were killed in police pursuits in just one month.
In one incident, the Associated Press reported, fleeing suspects struck and killed two men who were caretakers for sick and disabled family members.
The police department decided to reinstate its pursuit policy this past January, but established new rules for car chases amid a rise in crime, including the death of a jogger who was shot dead in the wealthy Atlanta neighborhood of Buckhead earlier this month.
His wife Anne Worrell appeared on Fox News on Thursday where she claimed that Buckhead residents are fleeing the area because of a surge in crime amid calls in Atlanta to defund the police.
'Over the last 12 to 18 months it has just gotten worse and worse, and as you talk to other people that we know in the area, we just felt it creeping closer and closer into our neighborhood. So it has been felt by everybody here,' Anne Worrell said.
The new police chase rules state an officer can only engage in a police pursuit if he or she believes the fleeing suspect has committed or attempted to commit a 'forcible felony.'
Those include: murder, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, homicide by vehicle, armed robbery, hijacking, aggravated assault, kidnapping and escape.
Gaelen Newsome, 22 (left) is accused of shooting jogger Andrew Worrell, 41, (right) twice in the leg and hip during a Saturday crime spree in Atlanta
Buckhead is Atlanta's wealthiest neighborhood, where residents have been making a push to secede from the rest of the city amid skyrocketing crime rates
Additionally, under the new rules, 11 Alive reports, no more than three police vehicles are allowed to take part in a pursuit, and officers must have a supervisor's approval before pursuing a chase. The police department is now reliant on support from the Georgia State Patrol for these chases.
The new regulations went into effect in January.
But over the course of the past few months, violent crime has skyrocketed in the city.
Some residents are even too scared to pump their gas out of fear of becoming a victim of a crime, Fox News reported.
White later told the outlet that the group will start demanding emergency hearings in a bid to separate from Atlanta.
'Given everything that's been going on here, it's getting worse and worse and worse,' White told Fox News.
'So what we're doing because of the murders going through the roof and the attempted murders, and the lack of leadership and nothing changing – the insanity continues – is we're demanding emergency hearings on our cityhood bills.'
Andrew Worrell, a father-of-three, was out jogging on Saturday morning in Buckhead when a 'mentally ill' man shot him. Police said the suspect had also opened fire on two other people and mowed down a neighbor with his car.
In a 911 dispatch call, Worrell is heard telling the dispatcher that he has been shot, at which point the dispatcher asks if the assailant was still nearby and if there was any major bleeding.
Cops arrested and charged Gaelen Newsom, 22, with attempted murder, three counts of aggravated assault and two counts of possession of a firearm during a crime in connection with the weekend crime spree.
Homicides were up 63 percent across Atlanta from January 1 through May 23 and rape rates increased 108 percent.
Shooting incidents rose 45 percent, robberies were up 2 percent and aggravated assaults jumped 29 percent.
Adjusting for population, a person living in Atlanta is more likely to be a victim of a serious crime, including murder and aggravated assault, than in Chicago, where crime rates are higher, reported 11Alive.
Back in December, seven-year-old Kennedy Maxie (pictured) was fatally shot in the back of the head while riding in a car with her aunt and mother in Buckhead
Rayshard Brooks (pictured) was shot dead in the drive-thru lane of an Atlanta Wendy's by a white cop back on June 12
Homicides were up 63 percent across Atlanta in the period running January 1 to May 23 compared to the same period last year, rape rates skyrocketed 108 per cent, shooting incidents rose 45 per cent, robberies inched up 2 per cent and aggravated assaults jumped 29 per cent
The sharp increase in crime rates has prompted residents in the wealthy Buckhead neighborhood to form the Buckhead Exploratory Committee to create its own police force and look into the possibility of breaking away from Atlanta, after around 200 officers left the city's police force in the wake of the shooting death of black man Rayshard Brooks by a white cop in June 2020.
There are now two bills in the Georgia State Legislature to have Buckhead secede from the city, but city officials have opposed the idea of separating the wealthy, largely white neighborhood from the rest of Atlanta, which is predominantly black, arguing it would siphon away much of the city's tax base.
Data analysis shows that Buckhead's population accounts for 20 percent of Atlanta's population, but more than 40 percent of its assessed property value.
It contributes to one-fifth of the city's entire budget, but beginning last year, crime in the area has increased, with regular shootings at the local mall, according to Carlson.
Tucker Carlson spoke about the rising crime rates in Buckhead on his show Monday night
'We are living in a war zone,' White told Carlson Monday night, 'that's what we call Buckhead.'
He attributed the rise in crime to 'a complete vacuum in leadership' on Carlson's show Monday night, and said: 'We are going to form our own city. We are going to take our city back.'
He said the only way to stop the rising crime rates is to establish a Buckhead City Police Department.
'We plan on having 300 police officers for a prolonged period of time,' White told Carlson, noting: 'There are only 82 cops on the beat in Buckhead right now, the square footage of San Francisco that has 2,000 cops.'
'So one of the things we're positive of is we're going to put the smack down on crime once and for all, and we're going to make Buckhead a great place to live again where you can go to the mall and not get shot taking a jog.'
He noted that the committee has raised enough money and support to get the motion added as a ballot initiative next year.
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