While on the City Council, an Atlanta mayoral candidate voted to cut millions of dollars from the police department’s budget, and his car was taken this week.
Antonio Brown, a member of the City Council, had stepped out of his Mercedes to speak with another community leader when his automobile was stolen by a gang of children, at least one of whom was as young as 6 or 7.
According to The Independent, the incident has not impacted the councilman’s attitude about police.
According to the source, Brown told reporters during a virtual Thursday press conference that no amount of extra policing would have prevented the car from being sold.
“This was not a circumstance of a number of officers on the beat,” In answer to a query about whether the theft demonstrates the need for greater policing, Brown told The Independent. “This was a circumstance of these kids operating within whatever they felt was necessary for their own survival, a situation of generational poverty and acting on this basis of survival.”
Brown did not immediately respond to a Fox News query.
The event on Wednesday occurred in the midst of a recent crime wave in Atlanta. According to the article, Brown, who entered the mayoral race less than three weeks ago, is running on a platform of “reimagining public safety.”
The kids pretended to be strolling into a store, but instead jumped into Brown’s car.
“One kid was in the driver’s seat,” Brown told Fox 5. “Ben attempted to open the door to get him out of the car. He fought with Ben. I then engaged and tried to get him out of the car. The three other kids were trying to figure out how to get in the car or stay out of the car. He started to hit on the gas. Ben let go.”
Brown was dragged for nearly half a block outside the car while attempting to stop them.
“As he started to speed up, and I knew that if I had not let go, I knew I probably could have killed myself because he was going so fast, I would have started to tumble. And I would have hurt him,” Brown said.
Brown requested that the police department dismiss a complaint he had submitted.
Police found his automobile a few hours later, but the City Council member refuses to press charges against the children.
Brown blames poverty for the ultra-young criminals’ conduct, rather than faulty parenting or legislation.
“This is a generational poverty issue,” Brown said. “These kids, it”s 12:30 in the afternoon. Why aren’t they in school? Why aren’t we enforcing systems to ensure that if they are not in school, they’re in recreational centers?”
Sources: Thegatewaypundit.com, yahoonews.com, fox5atlanta.com, foxnews.com, sports.yahoo.com. independent.co.uk, ajc.com, wsbtv.com