A police officer in Alpharetta, Georgia, claims he was fired for not issuing enough traffic tickets to motorists in the area.
Officer Daniel Capps was on the force for nine years and was ultimately terminated because he declined to issue a traffic ticket to a driver after he bumped into another car. According to a department memo directed at officers, if there is an accident with any “damage that needs to be fixed with more than a little wax and elbow grease, you need to write the citation” — even if there are no injuries and the damage is minor.
As long as officers are called to the scene of a car accident, this rule is supposed to apply. But Capps decided to let the motorist who caused the minor incident off with a warning.
“Someone’s already needing to pay the insurance. It’s a hassle. There’s no need to have a ticket on top of that,” he told local outlet CBS 46, adding that he doesn’t believe it’s a police officer’s job to make people’s lives miserable.
He said that when Capps arrived at the scene, he was “extremely courteous, very professional, acknowledging it was a minor fender bender and there was no need to issue a ticket.”
According to Capps’ police report, no one was injured, and only the bumpers of the cars were damaged. The person whose car was hit did not object to Capps’ decision not to write a citation.
“I was pretty appalled, I am appalled. That doesn’t seem right to put that kind of mark on this gentleman’s life,” Westover said.