(NewsNation) — A Georgia sheriff up for reelection in his county was seen on body camera videos asking his deputies for help after Burger King got his order wrong.
The footage from March 4, 2023, was obtained by WSB-TV last week and was also posted on Facebook by the sheriff’s opponent in the upcoming election, David Cavender. It shows deputies responding to a Burger King in Mableton and approaching Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens Sr., who is in his truck.
“Hey, do me a favor,” Owens told one deputy in the video. “I need to get, all I need is the owner name of whoever owns this damn facility or the manager.”
Referring to a passenger in the vehicle, Owens says, “I wanted her a Whopper, no mayo, cut in half, right?” He then says he doesn’t need his money back, but to “find out who owns this place so I can do an official complaint.”
Employees locked themselves inside the restaurant but opened the doors for the three deputies. A deputy told the assistant manager that “nobody is in trouble. We just want to get some names” and that there wouldn’t be a report written. After getting the name of the manager and the company that owns that Burger King location, the deputy brought this information to Owens.
Mike Dondelinger, who is running for chief deputy with Cavender, called Owens’ actions an “abuse of power” as well as 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.
However, Owens characterized what happened in the video as a “business dispute call.”
“The type of call referenced in the video is a business dispute call. This is a call that ANY citizen can make, and law enforcement will respond,” Owens said Friday in a statement posted to Facebook.
Owens said he was not in uniform during the incident and went through the drive-thru as a regular patron.
“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.
While Owens said the call is “being politicized” by Cavender to win votes, he apologized.
“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,” Owens said in the statement.