Georgia police department says it apologized to disabled couple that was left stranded on side of road after traffic stop
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“Serve my country well, and this is how I’m gonna be treated,” Deborah Mobley-Sadler Sims, an army veteran, told WTOC in an interview.
The Hinesville Police Department in Georgia says they “fell short” after a disabled couple reported being abandoned on the side of a highway by officers after a traffic stop.
On April 27, Debra Mobley-Sadler Sims, 71, and her husband Bobby, 75, were left on the side of the road in Hinesville, Georgia, at 3 a.m. after Officer Todd Parmentier pulled over her vehicle, which had been flagged as uninsured by the Georgia Crime Information Center. Mobley-Sadler Sims is an army veteran who previously was in law enforcement for 17 years. She and her husband, who is an amputee, are both disabled.
Mobley-Sadler Sims said she tried to show the officer her insurance policy and her car registration, but that he didn’t listen and instead told the couple that a tow truck was coming to take the car. She also said that Officer Parmentier helped her husband out of the car and into his wheelchair, so he knew he was unable to walk. He then issued a citation and drove away.
“Serve my country well, and this is how I’m gonna be treated,” Mobley-Sadler Sims told WTOC in an interview.
USAA, the insurance company for military members and veterans like Mobley-Sadler Sims, confirmed that her insurance was active at the time, per WTOC.
According to bodycam footage shared by the HPD, when Mobley-Sadler Sims asked how she and her husband would get home, Officer Parmentier told her, “This is your opportunity to have somebody to call somebody to come get you a ride, Lyft, Uber, something.”
HPD leaders released a statement after reviewing the footage, saying they determined that the officer “acted in compliance with Georgia law and Hinesville Police Department Standard Operating Procedures,” but that it “should have done more to ensure the involved parties had safe and reliable transportation before clearing the scene.”
“While the officer acted within legal authority and departmental policy, department leadership also recognized that we fell short in how the overall situation was handled after the enforcement action was taken,” the statement said. “Specifically, insufficient consideration was given to the occupants’ age, medical conditions, and the late-night circumstances surrounding the encounter. Under those circumstances, supervisory consultation should have taken place before the traffic stop was concluded.”
The department also said it will introduce a new policy to “take reasonable steps, when practical, to ensure motorists have safe transportation or other appropriate accommodations following enforcement or towing actions.” It also said it spoke with the couple, apologized, reimbursed their towing expense, and dismissed the no-insurance citation after Georgia Crime Information Center subsequently reflected current insurance coverage for the vehicle.
Mobley-Sadler Sims said she hopes the incident will be a teaching moment for the police department to better train its officers.
“Once the bell is rung, you can’t unring it,” she told WTOC. “All you can do is train it. So hopefully they will train.”