COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Body camera video showing deputies helping the Cobb County sheriff with a faulty fast food order started grabbing the attention of voters on Friday.
“The video definitely tuned me in,” said Sophia Farook.
Channel 2 Action News obtained three body camera videos from the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office.
Each one shows a deputy responding to the Burger King on Veterans Memorial Highway in Mableton on March 4, 2023.
In the videos, the deputies approach Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens, Sr. in his truck parked in the parking lot.
He tells one of them, “Hey, do me a favor. I need to get, all I need is the owner name of whoever owns this damn facility or the manager.”
“I wanted her [passenger] a Whopper, no mayo, cut in half, right?” Owens said.
The deputies listen as he said, “I don’t need no damn money back no more. I just need to find out who owns this place so I can do an official complaint.”
They do not ask why the sheriff was unable to get the information himself.
They approach the restaurant doors.
The employees had locked themselves inside.
They open the doors for the three deputies.
One deputy tells the assistant manager: “Nobody is in trouble we just want to get some names.”
He goes on to say: “There isn’t even going to be a report written. That guy out there, he’s just going to file a complaint for his food.”
Once he has the name of the manager and the company that owns the Burger King location, he brings it out to the sheriff.
“These are hourly employees, and they were so concerned that they locked the doors over our elected official,” Farook said.
In the body camera video, a deputy tells the sheriff the employees are in fear because angry customers have escalated to stalking in the past.
The sheriff laughs and says, “You didn’t tell him who I was, did you?”
“No. I just told him it was the guy out in the truck,” The deputy responded.
Owens is up for re-election this year, and his opponent, David Cavender, posted the video online early Friday morning.
The man running for Chief Deputy with him is Mike Dondelinger.
“I think it’s an abuse of power,” Dondelinger said.
He said it’s a form of intimidation and a waste of resources.
“I’m shocked the sheriff feels so flippant about this issue that he would have deputies run lights and sirens, placing citizens at risk and his deputies at risk, just so he could get information from a business owner that clearly could have been followed up on another day,” Dondelinger said.
The sheriff called it a business dispute that any citizen can make.
“I was not in my uniform, and at no point in my interaction with the staff did I identify myself as a member of the law enforcement community. At no point did I indicate my position, nor did I ask the responders to do anything that they would not, had not, or have not done for anyone else who makes a business dispute call,” Owens said.
He said the call is being politicized in an attempt to win votes.
“Whether as a Command Sergeant Major, or a major in the Cobb Police Department, or as sheriff, I have always worked to build confidence and trust in leadership. To our citizens and residents, it is clear that I need to work harder, and I pledge to do so,” Owens said.
He ended with a list of accomplishments and an apology.
“Anything that takes away from that mission is a distraction, and for that, I am deeply sorry, Owens said.
Voters like Farook said they want more information on this race now.
“If I don’t get ketchup on my Whopper, do I get to call police officers with sirens?” Farook said.