Cobb County Teacher Faces Backlash After Breonna Taylor Comments

MABLETON, GA — A Cobb County teacher is facing backlash and calls for her resignation after she made comments saying Breonna Taylor was responsible for her own death.

Dana Giles, Pebblebrook High School principal, gave a tribute to Taylor over the school's loudspeakers Friday. Following the tribute, Susan McCoy, a forensic science teacher at Pebblebrook, made the remarks during a Zoom class.

A student uploaded a video of McCoy's comments to Instagram.

"Dr. G is doing that whole thing about Breonna ... I'm sorry she was killed, but you know, when you hang out with people with guns that shoot at cops, you're likely to get caught in the crossfire," McCoy is seen and heard saying in the video.

Taylor, who was Black, was shot eight times by white police officers who burst into her Louisville home using a no-knock warrant during a March 13, 2020 narcotics investigation. The warrant to search her home was in connection with a suspect who did not live there, and no drugs were found inside.

Kenneth Walker, Taylor's boyfriend and a licensed gun carrier, shot at who he thought were intruders. Police returned fire and Taylor was killed. Her death sparked protests across the country last summer, and became a centerpiece for the Black Lives Matter movement.

McCoy goes on to say Taylor "put herself in that position by hanging out with somebody she shouldn't have been with," calling Walker "a criminal" — though she was conflating the suspect of the no-knock warrant, Taylor's ex-boyfriend Jamarcus Glover, with Walker.

"Dr. G is on the announcements reading about ... what's her name? Breonna something ... the one that was killed in the gunfire from the cops," McCoy said. "You know, if you hang out with people who are criminals, and they shoot at a cop, you're likely to get caught in the crossfires. It does not matter what color your skin is, you're likely to get caught in the crossfire."

A student corrected McCoy's confusion between Walker and Glover. But McCoy still stuck with her statement.

"Here's the thing: she was with her boyfriend who was a criminal," McCoy said.

"That was her ex-boyfriend, they came to the wrong house," one student said in response. "The right guy was already in custody earlier that day."

"If [Walker] shot that was self-defense anyways, because that was the wrong house they was at," another student said. "Come on, forensic science."

"Yeah, OK. Like I said, I'm sorry she's dead, but ... they actually have proof that he fired a gun first," McCoy said.

Later the same day, McCoy issued a recorded apology video for her comments about Taylor.

"I want to apologize sincerely, publicly for the things I said today in my class that had to do with something that I was very ignorant about. I'm just heartbroken that I said something so rude and disrespectful," McCoy said in the video. "I truly, truly apologize and ask for forgiveness, and hope that someday I can have that trust back with my students that I know that I lost."

David Dennis Jr., an Atlanta-based freelance writer, posted the apology video on Twitter:

Update: teacher Susan McCoy has sent out an apology video for her offensive and racist comments about Breonna Taylor made during a class zoom session. pic.twitter.com/Y6nfth14C2
— David Dennis Jr. (@DavidDTSS) February 27, 2021

Giles issued a letter to parents Saturday acknowledging the situation.

"Regardless of opinion or emotion, what was said will be weighed against the rules, policies and regulations which guide our school and the laws mandated by the state," Giles said in part of the letter. "I am confident this situation will be investigated, and any appropriate district policy will be applied. We will show empathy and support for each other, respectfully, as long as I am the principal of Pebblebrook High School."

The full letter can be viewed on the school's website.