Atlanta mall cop who tased crazy mom fired

Warning: This video contains strong language.

The Atlanta mall cop Dori praised for standing his ground early February when a woman took a swing at him in front of her children has been fired.

Darien Long wears a camera around his neck during his patrols around the Atlanta mall where he works as a security guard. On Friday, Darien was trying to keep a group of loud, unruly children from coming back into the mall when he was approached by one of the two mothers of the group of at least six or seven young children.

The video shows the mom hurling insults as the children join in, egged on by their mothers. As the mothers hurl racial slurs, the children shout “You gay, you gay.” The unnamed mother starts pushing up against Darien, who tells her to “back up.” When the woman finally took a swing at Darien, he tased her.

Reports showed later that the two moms in the video were arrested and charged with seven misdemeanors between them.

Darien said later that he was just doing his part to make the neighborhood safe for families and businesses. But he got a lot of publicity, and his story went viral.

His community was so appreciative that they raised over $20,000 online to thank Darien for his service and to show their support.

This week, though, Darien announced that he’d been let go from his job as a security officer. March 31 will be his last day.

“I think it was the result of a lot of things. The publicity,” said Darien in an interview, “two of the vendors are actually leaving, revenues are down.”

Dori thinks the mall owners should keep Darien on – and should give him a medal for dealing with so many violent, obnoxious people.

But Darien is moving on, looking to get out of the security business. He said he’s sad to leave the mall.

“Within two or three days the drug dealers will start to come back in once they know I’m not there,” he said.