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A Georgia sheriff faced allegations of “abuse of power” after he summoned deputies to a fast food restaurant that missed the mark to “Have it your way.”

Early voting is slated to begin in the Peach State on Tuesday and Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens Sr. got an October surprise all his own from his re-election rival. Friday, Cobb County Police Department Officer David Cavender, Owens’ opponent, released bodycam footage of the sheriff using his deputies to get the name of a Burger King manager who got his order wrong.

“Set aside the next 4 minutes of your day and watch just One example of how Cobb’s current Sheriff abuses his position, wastes resources, and puts himself first,” wrote Cavender on Facebook after he shared the video from March 4, 2023.

“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,” Owens could be heard telling the deputies at the Mableton, Georgia restaurant, to the northwest of Atlanta.

During the exchange, the sheriff referred to his passenger when he explained, “I want to order her a Whopper, no mayo, cut in half, right?”

“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,” he added.

After finding the doors to the restaurant had been locked despite the business being open, one deputy could be heard explaining after being allowed in, “Nobody is in trouble, we just want to get some names.”

“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,” the deputy went on before it was explained to the sheriff that the employees were in fear because of past retaliation from angry customers.

To that, Owens laughed as he said, “You didn’t tell him who I was, did you?’

“No. I just told him it was the guy out in the truck,” replied the deputy.

In a statement on Facebook, Cavender said in part, “I’ve been accused of running a smear campaign, but let’s look at the definition: a plan to discredit a public figure by making false or dubious accusations.”

After noting that the footage was aired by WSB-TV, he went on to add that it “speaks volumes that Sheriff Owens had his opportunity to go on camera yesterday and either explain his side or apologize and he chose to do neither.”

That news report was shared on X by the executive director of Women for America First, Kylie Jane Kremer, who added that “Beyond this total abuse of power, Sheriff Owens also announced ending his participation in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s 287(g) program in 2021. Cobb County is now one of the top counties in Georgia for illegal aliens and refuses to hand illegals over to ICE!!”

WSB-TV spoke with Mike Dondelinger, who is running for chief deputy alongside Cavender, and also said, “I think it’s an abuse of power.”

“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,” he went on.

In his own statement on the bodycam footage of the incident, the sheriff expressed, “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.”

“Where 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,” he went on. “Anything that takes away from that mission is a distraction, and for that, I am deeply sorry.”

While he contended the call to the deputies was a “business dispute that any citizen can make,” voter Sophia Farook snarked to WSB-TV, “If I don’t get ketchup on my Whopper, do I get to call police officers with sirens?”

Kevin Haggerty
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