An attorney for an Atlanta police officer accused of pulling a weapon on a Black family during a traffic dispute is disputing the family’s account of the story.
A spokesperson for the Atlanta Police Department told WSB-TV that Officer Robert Malone resigned in July, weeks after he was arrested for felony charges from the incident.
Courtney Harris and Quinton Rogers allege Malone pointed a gun at them and their three children in a car in May, threatened to shoot Harris and called the family the N-word. However, Malone’s attorney argues that Rogers and Harris were the aggressors and only backed down after they realized Malone, who was off-duty at the time but in uniform, was a police officer.
“That put the biggest fear in them, like just seeing that gun being pointed at them. And then, my 11-year-old holding my 8-year-old daughter’s head down to protect her, telling her the gun is pointing right here,” Harris told 11 Alive on Sept. 1. “I cried that night – that hurt.”
Malone’s attorney Brian Tevis said the version of the events that the couple relayed to the media does not match what they told police.
According to 11 Alive, the police report shows that on May 5, a woman said a man driving a black Camaro pointed a handgun at them near the Reynoldstown district after Harris nearly hit the Camaro as she was exiting the parking lot. The driver blew his horn, yelled curse words at her family and called her the N-word for several minutes while they were stuck in traffic, she told police.
Harris reportedly told police that Malone said, “He will blow her brains out.” He later pointed a gun at her family, Harris told reporters.
“I see him pointing a gun through the window, and I’m like, ‘Really? My kids are in the car! My kids are in the car!'” Harris said. “And he’s like, ‘I don’t care. I don’t give an F.’ Calling us the N-word.”
While the traffic was still at a standstill, Harris told reporters she and Rogers stopped their car and approached Malone’s vehicle to confront him. The police report shows Rogers started yelling at Malone, and then the off-duty officer fled the scene.
“I see a badge on his shoulder, and it says ‘Atlanta Police,'” she said. “It was just shocking. How could you be doing this?”
Harris reportedly flagged down another officer near the scene of the incident who was responding to an accident.
Malone, who worked for Atlanta Police for 13 years, told investigators later that he left the scene “because he didn’t want to infuse the situation.” He was placed on administrative leave before resigning on July 12. He is out on bond for violation of oath, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and first-degree cruelty to children.
Tevis said, however, that after Harris almost hit Malone’s Camaro, she and her boyfriend got out of the car, approached the former police officer, “became aggressive” and threatened him.
“Once they realized Mr. Malone was a police officer, they changed their demeanor and came up with these false accusations, Tevis said in a statement to WSB-TV last week.
“Their inability to tell the same story twice demonstrates that their account is a fabrication,” he continued. “Unlike their story, the truth does not change, and we look forward to the truth coming out in court.”
