Is this conduct becoming an officer? >> If I may say this, hell no. >> Another viral traffic stop. Another badge holder who suddenly discovers traffic stops are annoying. Tragic. This time it's a school police lieutenant. You know, the guy who teaches accountability. Lieutenant McClendon was off duty driving an unmarked vehicle with blue lights activated while traveling to a family event because that never raises questions. When Henry County police couldn't immediately verify who he was, they did what cops tell you to expect, a routine safety check. Well, tonight, a traffic stop in Henry County has outraged people all across our state. Social media post of the officer's body cam video have received more than 3 million views. So, people want to know whether the resource officer at the center of all of this should still be on the job. 11 Alive News [music] senior investigator Rebecca Lindstöm went looking for answers. >> Hurry up, man. >> Ah, yes. The classic hurry up, man. Famously effective on police officers. Just ask literally no civilian ever. It was a viewer who reached out upset by the body worn camera video showing Clayton County School Lieutenant Derek McClendon [music] during a traffic stop. McClendon is a supervisor for school resource officers. >> This is it. An undercover car. >> You see my right side? >> Lieutenant, right? Yes, sir. >> Ladies and gentlemen, rank deployment activated because when facts fail, flex the collar brass. >> Okay, now listen to what you talking to. McClendon was off duty on his way to a family event in another county, [music] flashing his blue lights in an unmarked vehicle. When the Henry County police officer couldn't verify the vehicle belonged to anyone in law enforcement, he wanted to make sure it wasn't someone impersonating an officer. >> You think somebody just riding around with blue lights on? >> McClinton dismisses concerns about police impersonators, saying that doesn't happen. Which is interesting because 11 Alive literally covered a police impersonator case earlier. But sure, reality must have been late, too. >> It happens all the time. >> No, it don't. >> Actually, [music] it does. >> You look like me. You're impersonating a police officer. >> 11 Alive News covered a police impersonator less than a week before McClendon was stopped. And there have been others in the past 5 years, some using the uniform to commit crimes. Former officer and criminology professor Thaddius Johnson reviewed the video and said to say impersonation doesn't happen is either ignorance or disdain for being stopped. Translation pick one. >> So him to say it doesn't happen either it's a complete show of ignorance or a complete show of this thing for being stopped. >> Hurry up man. We took the 19-minute video to former police officer Thaddius Johnson, who now works as an assistant criminology professor at Georgia State University. >> Is this conduct becoming an officer? >> If I may say this, hell no. It's not at all. It's not becoming of of a citizen. >> And that's why the big question on social media has been what happened after this stop. We obtained the 40-page internal investigation by the district's division of equity and compliance to find out. It called McClendon's behavior unprofessional, demeaning, obstructive, confrontational, and aggressive, and recommended the school district move toward terminating his employment. >> So Clayton County Schools launches an internal investigation. Their findings: McClendon's behavior was unprofessional, demeaning, obstructive, confrontational, aggressive. Investigators recommended termination. So naturally, the school superintendent stepped in and said, "Let's try training." >> The superintendent allowed him to take three training classes instead. >> You got me late. I'm I'm going to sue somebody in a minute. >> But it was McClendon who asked for a supervisor, delaying his own ability to leave. >> He's getting pretty agitated. >> Is he a car? >> No, you didn't. McClendon gave a number of reasons for his behavior. He said his blue lights came on by accident, that his outburst was triggered by the fact he was late, hungry, his wife was having an emergency, and it was the 2-year anniversary of the shooting death of his son. It is a lot. >> Our office are human beings, right? And we have good days and bad days. >> Now, here's where it gets interesting. 4 months later, McClendon was suspended without pay for being loud and belligerent after walking out of a mandatory training class. And that raises a fair question. Was it one of the same training classes the superintendent chose as punishment? Because if the answer is yes, that means the corrective action failed before it even finished loading. To recap, termination was recommended. The superintendent chose training. Four months later, he's suspended for walking out of training. He really can't make this stuff up. >> But according to his personnel file, this wasn't McClendon's only bad day. And 4 months after this outburst, he was suspended without pay for being loud and belligerent before walking out of a training class. >> He's the one that holds people accountable. If my kid goes to that school and that's how they're behaving when authority comes, why [music] should my children respect your authority? And why should I respect your authority? That's the consequences of that. >> Consequences that make Johnson question the system that hired McClendon to supervise people and as a school resource officer interact with our children. >> This wasn't a bad stop. It wasn't a misunderstanding and it wasn't a one-off. It was a system that saw the behavior, documented it, and decided training was good enough. And four months later, that decision spoke for itself. If that sounds ridiculous, that's because it is. This was about leaders choosing convenience over consequences and calling it accountability. If this is how our school resource officers behave and this is how superintendent respond, what exactly are students supposed to be learning from it?