Officer(s) involved: Police Sergeant Daniel Elzey.
Synopsis: In the early morning hours of 02 January 2018, with the temperature around 17° Fahrenheit, or -8° Celsius, a Roswell police officer stopped a 13-year-old boy while the child was driving a golf cart on a local street. Officers at the scene knew the child might be "Code 24," Roswell Police shorthand for "emotionally disturbed". They were frustrated that the child provided the officers with conflicting information about an address and telephone number for his mother and Sgt. Elzey placed the handcuffed child, soaking wet, in the backseat of a patrol car with all the windows down and the heat turned off.
Sgt. Elzey and other officers told the boy that he would freeze until he started talking. Evidence indicates the child was in the cold for so long his wet clothing had begun to freeze. The boy was released into the custody of his mother without charges being filed.
Elzey, named Supervisor of the Year months after this incident occurred, initially received only verbal counselling from his lieutenant before the WXIA-TV investigators team requested bodycam footage and related memos.
Outcome: During the first internal investigation, Sergeant Elzey was placed on paid administrative leave for three months. After the video of the event was made public and a new internal investigation, Elzey served a 30-day suspension without pay. Elzey returned to the Roswell Police Department as a patrol officer after being stripped of his rank by Police Chief Rusty Grant.