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Speaker 1: I walk straight line shackle change, Oh weesome, gird, it's

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calling my name. There is nu mercy and it's been

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a tentery juice as the huge stream game Wrangle three.

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Speaker 2: Come here but.

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Speaker 1: By me to die inside these walls, inside the wild.

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Speaker 2: And went no girl as I. Hey everyone, and welcome

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back to Bloody and Gola, a podcast one and forty

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two years in the making. The complete story of America's

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Bloody is present. I'm Jim Chapman, and we're back with

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another episode of Bloody and Gola. Look, I had a

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totally different episode playing for today and some breaking news

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out of the state of Louisiana came out that was

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pretty significant. Now, this relates to an investigatoration that actually

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started back in twenty twenty two against the Louisiana State Police.

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It was initiated by the Justice Department, and if you'll remember,

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it was just a few episodes ago, I covered a

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lawsuit that was filed after an investigation into the Bureau

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of Prisons and the Louisiana prison system from the Department

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of Justice. Well, they've wrapped up another one and I

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think it's something all our listeners would find interesting, So

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we'll start out with when this investigation first kicked off,

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and back on June ninth of twenty twenty two, the

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Justice Department announced an investigation into the Louisiana State Police,

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and I'm going to refer to the press release that

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they put out at that time. The Justice Department announced

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today that it has opened a pattern or practice investigation

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into the Louisiana State Police. This investigation will assess whether

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LSP used excessive force in whether it engages in racially

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discriminatory policing. The investigation will include a comprehensive review of

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LSP policies, training, supervision, and force investigations, as well as

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the LSP systems of accountability, including misconduct, complaint intake, investigation, review, disposition,

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and discipline. And then it goes into I guess you

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could say why you shouldn't use excessive force things of

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that nature. Now, it's important to keep in mind that

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at this time when this started, we had a completely

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different governor here in the state of Louisiana. It was

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John Bell Edwards. We actually had a completely different colonel

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at the Louisiana State Police at the time, it was

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Lamar Davis. So at that time June ninth, of twenty

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twenty two. There was a response from Governor John Bell

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Edwards and Colonel Lamar Davis and I'll cover that, and

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the response was Today, the Governor's office and Louisiana State

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Police were briefed on the US Department of Justice civil

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investigation into the patterns and practices of the Louisiana State Police.

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Both Governor Edwards and LSP Colonel Lamar Davis pledge their

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support and cooperation with this federal investigation into the agency.

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Governor Edwards said, I welcome the US Department of Justice

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civil investigation into the pattern of practice of the Louisiana

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State Police. It's deeply troubling that allegations of systematic misconduct

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exist that will warrant this type of investigation, But it

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is absolutely critical that all Louisianas, especially African Americans and

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other people of color, have their faith, confidence, and trust

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in public safety officers restored. This investigation is one part

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of that process. I share the Department of Justice goal

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of ensuring the Louisiana State Police or policing in a

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constitutional way. It is my expectation in that all employees

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of the Louisiana State Police will cooperate fully, and he

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kind of goes on and on with that, Colonel Lamar

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Davis said, since accepting the position of the Louisiana State

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Police Superintendent, I vowed to regain the trust of our citizens.

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Our law enforcement partners are political leaders, and the men

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and women of our agency. The Department of Public Safety

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is comprised of over a thousand dedicated men and women

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within our commission rank. Each of them displays selfless service,

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courage of integrity on a daily basis, and he kind

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of goes on and on with that. So great, everybody's

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cooperating with this investigation. Well, look, it took a while.

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I'm surprised it took as long as it did. But yesterday,

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January sixteenth, twenty twenty five, guess what, the United States

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Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and the US Attorney's

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Offices released the investigation results into the Louisiana State Police.

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We're going to cover that today. I have it right

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in front of me, and we're going to start off

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with the executive summary that they released with all of

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these investigations. It says on the evening of May tenth,

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twenty nineteen, near Monroe Louisiana. A Louisiana State Police trooper

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tried to stop a forty nine year old black man

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by the name of Ronald Green for speeding and running

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a red light. Mister Green drove away for fourteen minutes.

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Officers pursued him until he lost control of his vehicle,

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crashing on the side of the road. According to a

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sergeant that LSP regarded as its in house use of

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force expert, what happened in the ensuing hours, weeks, and

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months was a catastrophic failure in a million different directions

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quote unquote. Multiple LSP troopers and sheriff's deputies arrived at

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the scene of the crash. They tased mister Green repeatedly

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and pulled him out of his car. They punched him,

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dragged him by his ankle shackles, and left him face

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down in the road. When mister Green tried to roll

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onto his stomach, a trooper put his foot on mister

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Green's buttocks to hold him down on his stomach. The

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trooper later told a supervisor, I'm trying to keep him

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laying down. I was going to sit him up, but

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I don't want him spitting blood all over us. Mister

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Green pleaded, I'm scared. I'm your brother, I'm scared. The

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LSP troopers deactivated and or muted their body worn cameras.

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When a supervisor arrived, he casually stepped over mister Green,

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who lay moaning on the ground, and instead asked the

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troopers if they were okay. None of the troopers rendered

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aid to mister Green, who became unresponsive and died before

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he reached the hospital. After mister Green died, troopers file

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reports attributing his death to a car accident. We investigate

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crashes every day. One trooper later told us, no way

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someone died from a car crash with that damage. One

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trooper who was there misdated the incident in an official report.

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Lsp's designated use of force expert at the time believed

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that it was a deliberate attempt to cover up the incident.

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Another trooper miscategorized the camera footage in LSP system, and

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the trooper who stepped over mister Green's body that night

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signed off on all use of force reports. Over fifteen

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months passed before LSP opened an internal affairs investigation into

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mister Green's death. In the intervening days of Moss, LLSP

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troopers including the one involved in mister Green's death would

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go on to assault more drivers. It was not until

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September of twenty twenty, sixteen months after the incident, that

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LSP fired one of the troopers involved. It would take

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until twenty twenty one for LSP to suspend a second

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trooper and fire a third who was involved in both

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mister Green's death and an assault of a different black man.

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Mister Green's death and its aftermath demonstrated serious failures at

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LSP excessive force and proper supervision and effective training and

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breakdowns and accountability. As our civil pattern or practice investigation revealed,

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these failures were not isolated, but part of a larger

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practice or pattern of law enforcement conduct that deprives people

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in Louisiana their rights under the Constitution. Following a comprehensive investigation,

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the Department of Justice has reasonable cause to believe that

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the Louisiana State Police engaged in a statewide pattern or

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practice of using excessive force, which violates the Fourth Amendment.

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Our investigation, opened in twenty twenty two, also includes examining

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whether LLSP engaged in racially discriminatory policing. At this time,

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we make findings only as to excessive force. Though this

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investigation reveals systematic problems, we recognize that most LSP troopers

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work hard to keep the public safe. We commend LSP

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troopers and staff who defaith their professional lives to serving

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the community. LUSP began making much needed reforms after the

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video of mister Green's death became public in twenty twenty one,

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two years after the incident. We believe those changes may

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have been contributed to some recent improvement in use of

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force practices. The changes include revising lsp's use of force policy,

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creating a Force Investigation Unit to investigate serious uses of force,

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and updating training programs. However, more reforms are needed to

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remedy the unlawful conduct we found. We describe recommended changes

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at the end of this report, and we hope to

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work constructively with the state and LSP to implement the reform.

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So there you have kind of a brief overview of

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why this investigation was opened and pretty disturbing stuff, right. So,

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let me give you a little bit of background on LSP.

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Spread across sixty four parishes and covering more than fifty

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two thousand square miles, Louisiana is home to over four

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point six million people. Louisiana has several large cities, including

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New Orleans, Shreeport, Lafayette, and its capital, Baton Roudge. The

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state's population is approximately fifty six percent white, thirty one

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percent Black, seven percent Hispanic, in two percent Asian. Founded

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in nineteen thirty six, LSP is responsible for highway safety

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and criminal enforcement throughout the state alongside local sheriffs and

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city police departments. LSP also assists with disaster recovery in

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providing law enforcement support for major events like the NBA

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All Star Game in Maudi Gras. Over thirteen hundred people

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serve in LSP, both as troopers and civilian law enforcement professionals.

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LSP is headed by a Superintendent, who is currently Robert Hodges,

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who is appointed by the Secretary of the Department of

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Public Safety and Corrections and confirmed by the state Senate.

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LSP superintendent has the rank of colonel. An assistant superintendant

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serves as lsp's second in command for deputy superintendents each

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oversee a major area of lsp's operations and report to

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the assistant superintendent. The uniformed troopers that patrol Louisiana roads

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are organized into ten troops that cover different parishes around

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the state. The troops are grouped into three regions, each

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commanded by a major. LSP has policed New Orleans on

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and off over the years, and in January of twenty

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twenty four, now Governor Jeff Landry announced plans to form

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a new troop in New Orleans called Troop NOLA. LSP

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has several statewide units. The Criminal Investigation Division investigates crimes

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around the state. The Force Investigation Unit investigates serious use

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of force by troopers, and the Internal Affairs Unit is

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responsible for investigating potential policy violations by troopers and civilian

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law enforcement professionals. Then it goes in two recent events,

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Ronald Green's death on May tenth of twenty nineteen is

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far from the only instance of lsp's excessive force that

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has made headlines. In July of twenty eighteen, a trooper

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shot and paralyzed a white teenager who was a passenger

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in a car stopped for a minor traffic violation when

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he tried to run away from the car. In March

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of twenty nineteen, a trooper grabbed a black man in

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his early twenties by his hair and repeatedly slammed his

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head into the hood of a car. In May of

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twenty nineteen, a trooper hit a handcuffed forty five year

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old black man eighteen times with a flashlight as other

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troopers watch, breaking his jaw rest in three ribs. In

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July of twenty nineteen, troopers handcuffed a black man, slammed

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him against a police car, threw him to the ground,

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and repeatedly punched and kneed him. In May of twenty twenty,

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at least seven troopers, including one who was involved in

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Ronald Green's death, gave a twenty nine year old black

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man auote unquote whooping that would give him nightmares for

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a long time quote unquote. As the troopers later wrote

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in text messages, one trooper told him, quote, I'm gonna

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punish you, you dumb bitch unquote. Troopers pulled his hair,

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punched him, and repeatedly hit him in the head with

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a flashlight. In October of twenty twenty, LSP Superintendent Colonel

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Kevin Reaves announced his retirement in the wake of public

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reports about excessive force and delayed accountability. At the time,

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media outlets reported the troopers were using racially derogatory language

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including one trooper who was never disciplined calling a coworker

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a fucking in word, and it says the word. In

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the following years, Colonel Lamar Davis led LSP and implemented reforms,

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including revamping its use of force policy and updating a

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training academy's approach and curriculum. LSP also engaged in outside

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policing experts to assess lsp's policies, procedures, practices, culture, and training.

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LSP issued a report on the assessment in October of

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twenty twenty three, which identified problems with training, force and accountability,

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as well as data collection and analysis, and other areas,

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and recommended further reform. Following Colonel Davis's retirement in January

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twenty twenty four, Colonel Robert Hodges took over as lsp's

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twenty eight superintendent. So it goes then into the investigation,

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and it says the Department of Justice opened this investigation

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in twenty twenty two to determine whether LSP engaged in

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a pattern or practice of unlawful conduct that deprive people

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of their rights. We conducted our investigation to ensure a thorough,

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independent and fair assessment of LSP. We interviewed current and

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former command staff. We visited troops across Louisiana that with

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supervisors and operational staff from Key Headquartered to visions, and

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we also participated in dozens of ride alongs with troopers

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around the state and observe academy training sessions. They held

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town halls, they reviewed LSP records including policies, et cetera.

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And they in this note say they want to thank

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LSP for cooperating, so that state police were cooperating obviously

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with all of this. So let's get into the meat

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of it, and that is the findings. What did they

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find in the investigations. Well, it says we have reasonable

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cause to believe that LSP engages in a statewide pattern

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or practice of excessive force that violates the Fourth Amendment.

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And it kind of goes on to define excessive force.

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And I think it's important that I read this so

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you can get a grasp of what the difference is

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because there may be kind of a fine line there.

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In some cases. It says the use of excessive force

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by an officer violates the Fourth Amendment. Whether an officer's

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00:17:00,879 --> 00:17:04,599
use of forces constitutional is based on the totality of

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00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:08,200
the circumstances and must be assessed by looking at whether

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00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:13,000
the officer's actions are objectively reasonable in light of the

242
00:17:13,079 --> 00:17:18,720
facts and circumstances particular to each case. In making this assessment,

243
00:17:18,839 --> 00:17:22,720
relevant factors include whether the suspect posed an immediate threat

244
00:17:22,799 --> 00:17:26,240
to the safety of the officer, the severity of the

245
00:17:26,319 --> 00:17:30,680
crime at issue, whether the suspect is actively resisting or

246
00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:34,839
attempting to evade arrest by flight. Deadly force is permissible

247
00:17:34,920 --> 00:17:37,759
only when an officer has probable cause to believe that

248
00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:41,680
a suspect poses an immediate threat of serious harm to

249
00:17:41,759 --> 00:17:45,759
the officer or another person. In the fifth circuit, analysis

250
00:17:45,839 --> 00:17:49,079
as to the reasonableness of a use of deadly force

251
00:17:49,079 --> 00:17:52,599
should be confined to whether the officer or other persons

252
00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:55,680
were in danger at the moment of the threat that

253
00:17:55,839 --> 00:17:59,559
resulted in the officer's use of deadly force. And it

254
00:17:59,559 --> 00:18:02,319
goes on to give some stats. From twenty eighteen to

255
00:18:02,319 --> 00:18:06,400
twenty twenty three, LSP officers reported more than thirteen hundred

256
00:18:06,599 --> 00:18:10,839
uses of force. We reviewed every LSP shooting and hundreds

257
00:18:10,839 --> 00:18:14,839
of randomly selected force incidents from twenty eighteen to twenty

258
00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:19,119
twenty three, and reviewed each incident by watching body worn

259
00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:23,559
and in camera footage and reading related reports and documents,

260
00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:28,039
we found that Louisiana State troopers across the state use

261
00:18:28,279 --> 00:18:33,400
excessive force. Though lsp's use of unreasonable force was not

262
00:18:33,559 --> 00:18:36,759
limited to any one type of force, we found that

263
00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:43,000
lsp's use of tasers was particularly concerning. We also found

264
00:18:43,039 --> 00:18:47,480
that troopers use excessive force to immediately control encounters, often

265
00:18:47,519 --> 00:18:50,720
within the first few moments of encountering a person, and

266
00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:55,400
without giving the person warning or opportunity to comply. They

267
00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:58,839
also used force on those who, because they are restrained

268
00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:01,640
or otherwise on able, but to fleet, do not pose

269
00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:06,279
a threat or flight risk. Additionally, LSP uses successive force

270
00:19:06,319 --> 00:19:09,400
on people who run from troopers, even when that person

271
00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:14,160
is only suspected of a misdemeanor. This successive force violates

272
00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:17,640
the Fourth Amendment, as discussed below. We also found that

273
00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:22,960
specific practices or policies escalate situations, making the use of

274
00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:26,440
force more likely. So they brought up tasers, and they

275
00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:30,279
get into detail on that. It says LSP troopers across

276
00:19:30,319 --> 00:19:34,200
the state quickly resort to tasers when it's not reasonable

277
00:19:34,279 --> 00:19:38,240
to do so. A senior LSP leader explained to us

278
00:19:38,519 --> 00:19:41,720
that once troopers begin to carry tasers, they were more

279
00:19:41,880 --> 00:19:46,400
likely to escalate from verbal engagement directly to tasing a person,

280
00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:50,559
rather than trying to control someone with lower levels of force.

281
00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:54,640
We saw that pattern play out in the incidents we reviewed.

282
00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:59,640
LSP troopers unreasonably used tasers without warning and against people

283
00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:03,480
who are restrained and did not pose a threat. For example,

284
00:20:04,079 --> 00:20:08,400
an LSP trooper stunned an unarmed man in the back

285
00:20:08,519 --> 00:20:11,359
with a taser while he was lying face down, surrounded

286
00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:15,160
by at least five officers. The trooper went to the

287
00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:18,039
scene to help a local Sheriff's department with a traffic

288
00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:22,160
stop for improper lane usage. We may arrive the driver

289
00:20:22,319 --> 00:20:27,440
had already pulled over and numerous local shaff's deputies were present.

290
00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:30,440
Officers told the man to exit the vehicle put his

291
00:20:30,519 --> 00:20:33,319
hands up. When he did not promptly get out of

292
00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:37,160
his car, the sheriff's deputies and the LSP trooper charged

293
00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:40,440
forward with their guns pointed to him. The officers opened

294
00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:43,400
the door and immediately pulled the man out, even before

295
00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:46,119
they told him to put his hands behind his back,

296
00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:48,839
and before he was completely out of the vehicle, the

297
00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:53,200
trooper demanded tase him. Tase him with the driver pinned

298
00:20:53,319 --> 00:20:56,519
face down on the ground and surrounded by officers. The

299
00:20:56,640 --> 00:20:59,480
LSP trooper pulled up the man's shirt and used his

300
00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:04,839
taser to drive stun the man's bare back. The driver

301
00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:08,680
repeatedly asked what he had done and explained, it's a rental.

302
00:21:09,119 --> 00:21:11,559
I didn't even know how to open the door. The

303
00:21:11,599 --> 00:21:15,839
trooper's use of force was excessive. You think the driver

304
00:21:16,039 --> 00:21:19,319
did not pose an immediate threat to anyone's safety, was

305
00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:23,119
not armed, did not actively resist arrest, and did not

306
00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:27,000
attempt to run. Following the incident, the driver was unable

307
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:30,359
to walk and was dragged by deputies to a patrol unit.

308
00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:33,480
His clothes were ripped and he was bruised, but there

309
00:21:33,559 --> 00:21:37,240
were also longer term effects. He reported that he became

310
00:21:37,319 --> 00:21:41,279
depressed and angry and has frequent flashbacks. He was ultimately

311
00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:44,640
charged with nothing more than improper lane usage, and the

312
00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:47,480
trooper explained in his use of force report that the

313
00:21:47,519 --> 00:21:51,559
stop was for changing lanes without a signal. That's insane.

314
00:21:51,599 --> 00:21:55,759
We also reviewed incidents in which LSP troopers unreasonably used

315
00:21:55,799 --> 00:21:59,960
tasers on people who fled from them without additional justification

316
00:22:00,319 --> 00:22:04,400
for using force. The use of tasers presents a serious

317
00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:06,960
risk of harm. In addition to pain caused by the

318
00:22:07,039 --> 00:22:11,400
electric shock and probes, tasers may cause seizures, feigning, or

319
00:22:11,799 --> 00:22:15,640
loss of control, which can result in injuries from falls,

320
00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:20,079
including bone fractures and even death. Muscle contractions caused by

321
00:22:20,119 --> 00:22:25,440
tasers can result in hernia, ruptures, dislocation, tear, or other injuries.

322
00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:29,519
Tasers can also cause changes in blood pressure, respiration, and

323
00:22:29,599 --> 00:22:34,960
heart rate. Tasing someone repeatedly or for prolong periods will

324
00:22:35,039 --> 00:22:38,279
compound these risks. So then it goes on to discuss

325
00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:43,359
some situations where LSP used unreasonable force without warning or

326
00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:49,559
opportunity to comply. LSP troopers rapidly use unreasonable force, sometimes

327
00:22:49,559 --> 00:22:53,599
within the first few seconds of an encounter. In multiple cases,

328
00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:57,759
troopers issued a command two or three times in rapid succession,

329
00:22:58,039 --> 00:23:01,759
like show me your ID or here, and then suddenly

330
00:23:01,839 --> 00:23:06,200
grabbed or tackled a person. Troopers used excessive force not

331
00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:09,880
to stop someone from escaping or protect themselves, but because

332
00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:15,119
a person did not immediately follow the trooper's command. For example,

333
00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:18,519
in one case we interviewed, a trooper slammed a bar

334
00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:21,240
patron to the ground when he failed to provide his

335
00:23:21,319 --> 00:23:25,079
ID quickly enough for the trooper. The man who was

336
00:23:25,079 --> 00:23:28,160
accused of slapping a bar employee was standing on the

337
00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:32,440
sidewalk outside the bar when the trooper arrived. The trooper

338
00:23:32,519 --> 00:23:35,000
asked him for his ID, but the man, who did

339
00:23:35,039 --> 00:23:39,400
appear innebreated, remained silent, shaking his head no and putting

340
00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:42,720
his hands out palms up in front of him, then

341
00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:47,079
crossing his arms. The man posed no immediate threat. Rather

342
00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:50,599
than explaining the reason for request or trying to persuade

343
00:23:50,599 --> 00:23:54,039
the man to cooperate, the trooper immediately grabbed the man's

344
00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:58,160
arm forced him to the ground, injuring his nose. Now, yes,

345
00:23:58,279 --> 00:24:02,319
that's wrong, will agree with that that trooper handled that wrong,

346
00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:05,960
But looks as someone on the other side of that

347
00:24:06,119 --> 00:24:08,440
comply man. If they ask you for your fucking ID,

348
00:24:08,559 --> 00:24:12,200
give him your ID, don't sing no in full j arms.

349
00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:16,079
But it doesn't make what he did right. It's the

350
00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:20,240
trooper's responsibility to try to de escalate and get the

351
00:24:20,279 --> 00:24:24,240
guy to cooperate, I guess. In another incident, a trooper

352
00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:28,920
unreasonably tased an unarmed pedestrian before giving him an order

353
00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:31,599
to get out of a car. The trooper was looking

354
00:24:31,599 --> 00:24:34,119
for a stolen vehicle and stopped a man and asked

355
00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:36,759
him where he lived. The trooper did not explain what

356
00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:39,839
he was looking for or why he was questioning the man.

357
00:24:40,039 --> 00:24:43,640
The man ignored the trooper's questions and instead ran away

358
00:24:43,799 --> 00:24:46,319
and got in the passenger seat of a parked car.

359
00:24:46,759 --> 00:24:50,000
The trooper followed the man with his taser drawn, shouting

360
00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:53,480
I'm about to kill your ass. He then opened the

361
00:24:53,519 --> 00:24:57,119
driver's side door and tased the man, who by then

362
00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:00,440
had raised his hands in submission. The trooper tas the

363
00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:04,119
man repeatedly while shouting at him to get out. In total,

364
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:07,839
the trooper tased the man seven times in less than

365
00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:10,279
a minute before he removed the man from the car

366
00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:13,880
and put him in handcuffs. Then it goes into lspus's

367
00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:16,920
force on people who are not a threat, and it

368
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:20,839
says LSP troopers use excessive force on people who do

369
00:25:21,039 --> 00:25:24,640
not present an immediate threat, including people who cannot flee

370
00:25:24,759 --> 00:25:28,759
because they are restrained or otherwise trapped. For example, in

371
00:25:28,839 --> 00:25:34,240
one instant, a LSP trooper tased an uncooperative driver multiple

372
00:25:34,279 --> 00:25:38,559
times after a serious traffic accident. When troopers responded to

373
00:25:38,599 --> 00:25:41,400
the side of the crash, the driver refused to come

374
00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:44,160
out of his returned vehicle. Once the man was out

375
00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:46,920
of the car, he tensed and pulled his arms away

376
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:50,960
to avoid being handcuffed by an assisting law enforcement officer

377
00:25:51,039 --> 00:25:54,480
who mistake number one for that guy. The trooper tackled

378
00:25:54,559 --> 00:25:56,599
him to the ground and punched him in the head

379
00:25:57,279 --> 00:26:00,599
while the other officers handcuffed the man. The trooper then

380
00:26:00,839 --> 00:26:04,440
tased the handcuffed man again without warning when the man

381
00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:07,000
would not lift his legs to be hog tied in

382
00:26:07,039 --> 00:26:09,640
the back seat of the trooper's vehicle. He was not

383
00:26:09,799 --> 00:26:12,720
posing a threat to the trooper or attempting to flee

384
00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:15,640
at the time. Just prior to the man had fallen

385
00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:18,480
headfirst from the back seat of the trooper's vehicle, and

386
00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:21,880
though he had initially kicked when the trooper attempted to

387
00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:25,319
place the legs restraints on him, he was no longer

388
00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:30,279
doing so. Law enforcement organizations advise officers to avoid leaving

389
00:26:30,319 --> 00:26:33,400
someone restrained on their stomach, as it posed a serious

390
00:26:33,559 --> 00:26:37,359
risk of suffocation, but the trooper left the man hogtied

391
00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:39,519
on his stomach in the back of the vehicle for

392
00:26:39,559 --> 00:26:43,200
almost an hour, with his ankles and wrest handcuffed and

393
00:26:43,319 --> 00:26:47,440
tied together behind his back. In another incident, a LSP

394
00:26:47,599 --> 00:26:51,319
trooper working with a local police department dragged a twenty

395
00:26:51,319 --> 00:26:54,119
five year old woman and a young child from a car.

396
00:26:54,359 --> 00:26:58,519
The woman was having a mental health crisis. Officer stopped

397
00:26:58,519 --> 00:27:03,599
her because she was a reported causing disturbances as multiple officers.

398
00:27:03,599 --> 00:27:05,559
He yelled at the woman and grabbed her in her

399
00:27:05,559 --> 00:27:10,039
screaming child. An LSP trooper tased the woman to make

400
00:27:10,119 --> 00:27:13,640
her let go of her child. The woman fell and

401
00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:17,440
thrashed her legs in the air following the initial taser use,

402
00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:20,480
although she was on the ground, surrounded by at least

403
00:27:20,599 --> 00:27:24,960
eight officers and unarmed. With no warning, an LSP trooper

404
00:27:25,039 --> 00:27:28,000
tased the woman a second time in front of the

405
00:27:28,079 --> 00:27:31,839
crying child. Enough officers were at the scene to control

406
00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:34,880
the woman and take her into custody, but they used

407
00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:39,680
a taser as a first option rather than a last resort,

408
00:27:39,839 --> 00:27:43,960
and failed to attempt any de escalation before using force.

409
00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:48,359
In another incident, an LSP officer pulled a woman who

410
00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:51,400
posed those right face down into the dirt on the

411
00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:54,000
side of the highway because she tried to use her

412
00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:57,680
phone after the trooper stopped her for following the vehicle

413
00:27:57,799 --> 00:28:01,039
in front of her too closely and pulled over and

414
00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:04,480
answer questions. The trooper agreed the woman could use her

415
00:28:04,519 --> 00:28:07,799
cell phone to call her mom to get the vehicle's registration,

416
00:28:08,319 --> 00:28:11,359
but when the woman refused to sign a form consenting

417
00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:14,480
to a search, the trooper apparently changed his mind about

418
00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:16,720
her use of the phone, even though she had been

419
00:28:16,799 --> 00:28:19,960
using it in front of him without an objection. When

420
00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:22,400
the woman tried to call her mom again, the trooper

421
00:28:22,519 --> 00:28:25,119
reached for the woman's phone to stop her from making

422
00:28:25,119 --> 00:28:27,880
the call and dragged her to the ground, twisting her

423
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:30,440
arm and pushing her onto the ground on the side

424
00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:33,559
of a busy highway so that she had dirt in

425
00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:37,240
her mouth. Then it goes into LSB trooper's use excessive

426
00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:40,640
force when people run, even when they are handcuffed or

427
00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:45,640
suspected of only minor misdemeanor violations. As noted above, When

428
00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:48,559
assessing whether a use of force is reasonable, courts look

429
00:28:48,599 --> 00:28:52,319
at other factors, including whether the person attempted to evade

430
00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:55,759
arrest by fleeing, as well as other factors like severity

431
00:28:55,759 --> 00:28:59,880
of the suspected crime and whether a person posed a threat.

432
00:29:00,039 --> 00:29:03,559
Behavior that appears evasive could of course have any number

433
00:29:03,599 --> 00:29:08,839
of innocent explanations. There are undeniably incidents in which a

434
00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:13,079
person runs for entirely innocent reasons, Thus using force on

435
00:29:13,119 --> 00:29:17,519
people who flee without additional justification can be unreasonable. Yet

436
00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:22,880
troopers reflexively use force and punish people who run away

437
00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:27,480
with little or no additional justification for doing so, then

438
00:29:27,519 --> 00:29:31,079
it gives examples. For instance, in one incident, a trooper

439
00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:34,359
tased a thirty year old man biking through a city

440
00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:38,119
at night without lights. According to the filed report, the

441
00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:41,480
trooper and his partner attempted to stop a cyclist to

442
00:29:41,559 --> 00:29:44,119
explain to him the dangers of operating a bike at

443
00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:47,000
night on a dark roadway. The trooper turned on the

444
00:29:47,039 --> 00:29:51,000
emergency lights, but the man continued to peddle. The trooper

445
00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:54,480
in the passenger seat, rolled his window down and asked

446
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:57,519
the cyclist to pull the bike over. The cyclist asked

447
00:29:57,559 --> 00:30:00,960
for what, then dropped his bike and ran. The troopers

448
00:30:01,079 --> 00:30:04,240
ran after him, and seconds later they tased him in

449
00:30:04,279 --> 00:30:08,680
the back. In another incident, a Louisiana State Police trooper

450
00:30:08,759 --> 00:30:11,559
tased an unarmed man after pulling him over for not

451
00:30:11,759 --> 00:30:15,359
signaling while changing lanes, not wearing a seat belt, and

452
00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:19,680
having a fake vehicle inspectionion sticker. The man was handcuffed

453
00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:23,039
and shoelas at the time. After pulling up a picture

454
00:30:23,039 --> 00:30:25,920
of the person to whom the car was registered, the

455
00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:29,200
troopers became suspicious as they did not believe the driver

456
00:30:29,359 --> 00:30:32,640
resembled the owner of the vehicle. When asked, the driver

457
00:30:32,799 --> 00:30:36,200
did not produce the driver's license and hesitated when producing

458
00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:39,200
his day to birth. Before he could finish answering the

459
00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:44,000
troopers question, troopers grabbed the man, handcuffed and searched him.

460
00:30:44,519 --> 00:30:46,920
As the troopers were walking the man to the back

461
00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:50,200
of the patrol car, he attempted to run. All three

462
00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:52,880
troopers who were on the scene chased after him. Within

463
00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:56,839
six seconds, a trooper tased the man. Unable to break

464
00:30:56,839 --> 00:30:59,720
his fall, he fell backward onto the pavement, hitting his

465
00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:03,880
head back and cutting his elbow so severely he needed stitches.

466
00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:07,880
Troopers have admitted to using significant force based on flight

467
00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:11,200
alone without additional evidence that the person was a threat.

468
00:31:11,279 --> 00:31:13,759
A trooper explained to a colleague that he did not

469
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:17,200
know if the pedestrian he had just tasted seven times

470
00:31:17,279 --> 00:31:20,519
had anything to do with our pursuit, but that he

471
00:31:20,759 --> 00:31:23,519
took off running when we went to talk to him.

472
00:31:23,799 --> 00:31:27,160
Then it gets into the poor supervision that contributes to

473
00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:31,440
the lsp's use of excessive force. It says, in one example,

474
00:31:31,599 --> 00:31:36,559
lsp's failure to identify and correct an unreasonable force later

475
00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:39,880
proved deadly. After pulling over an eighteen year old for

476
00:31:39,960 --> 00:31:43,400
a switched temporary tag and speeding, the trooper approached the

477
00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:46,000
car with his gun drawn and ordered him out of

478
00:31:46,039 --> 00:31:49,839
the vehicle. The team complied, got onto his stomach when ordered,

479
00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:53,200
and stretched his arms out to the side as instructed.

480
00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:56,680
The team was holding his cell phone but had no weapons,

481
00:31:57,119 --> 00:32:00,000
even though he was not threatening the trooper and only

482
00:32:00,079 --> 00:32:03,599
he questioned some of the troopers' commands. The trooper reportedly

483
00:32:03,799 --> 00:32:06,839
yelled at the teen to stop looking at him. At

484
00:32:06,839 --> 00:32:09,839
one point, with his gun still drawing, the trooper screamed,

485
00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:12,799
don't look at me, look away. Do it again, motherfucker,

486
00:32:12,799 --> 00:32:15,440
and I'm gonna light you up. The trooper holstered his

487
00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:18,079
gun and drew his taser. He then yelled at the teen,

488
00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:20,680
do you understand that if you look at me again,

489
00:32:20,839 --> 00:32:22,839
I'm gonna take it as a threat and I'm gonna

490
00:32:22,839 --> 00:32:26,680
tase you. The trooper then radio dispatch and said send

491
00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:29,359
me another unit. I'm fixing to tase him because he's

492
00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:32,559
not doing what I'm telling him to do. The teen

493
00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:35,240
asked if he could call his mother and brother. After

494
00:32:35,319 --> 00:32:39,240
not following the trooper's instructions about sliding his cellphone away

495
00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:43,119
several times, the teen scrambled to his feet and started

496
00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:46,680
to dart away. The trooper tased him from behind, striking

497
00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:49,480
his leg. The teen stood up with his hands in

498
00:32:49,519 --> 00:32:53,200
front of him after pulling out the taser probe and said, man,

499
00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:57,680
why did you do that? Sir? Stop? Man stop. After

500
00:32:57,759 --> 00:33:00,680
directing the teenager to get on the ground, the trooper

501
00:33:00,799 --> 00:33:04,720
fired his taser again, striking the teen in the torso.

502
00:33:05,319 --> 00:33:09,960
The teenager's body involuntarily stiffened as he fell flat onto

503
00:33:10,039 --> 00:33:13,680
the pavement. While the teenager screamed in pain on the ground,

504
00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:17,599
the trooper yelled stay on the ground, stop resisting. The

505
00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:22,119
teenager responded, I'm not resisting. Without warning, the trooper tasted

506
00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:25,839
him a third time. The trooper then approached the teen

507
00:33:26,039 --> 00:33:29,440
and sprayed chemical sprayed directly into his face. I would

508
00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:33,240
imagine that's freeze plus p. The team complied with the

509
00:33:33,279 --> 00:33:36,319
trooper's order to put his hands behind his back. A

510
00:33:36,519 --> 00:33:40,240
second trooper he muted his body worn camera after arriving

511
00:33:40,279 --> 00:33:44,400
on the scene, arrived and began kneeling on the eighteen

512
00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:48,039
year old's neck. The first trooper handcuffed the teen, then

513
00:33:48,119 --> 00:33:51,480
started twisting his rust and telling him to stop resisting.

514
00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:55,400
The teen said, my neck, I can't breathe. The original

515
00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:59,200
trooper said, your neck is fine. After the troopers pulled

516
00:33:59,279 --> 00:34:01,279
him to his feet, the team asked to wipe the

517
00:34:01,359 --> 00:34:04,880
chemical spray from his face. The first trooper said, we'll

518
00:34:05,119 --> 00:34:07,079
wash you off when we get to the jail. It

519
00:34:07,119 --> 00:34:09,679
would be more than twenty minutes before the trooper took

520
00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:13,159
the team to that jail. The first trooper then handed

521
00:34:13,199 --> 00:34:15,960
his body worn camera to the second trooper and said,

522
00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:18,159
I don't know if this thing is on met or not.

523
00:34:18,559 --> 00:34:23,360
The second trooper then muted the camera. Later, when driving

524
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:26,280
the eighteen year old to the local jail, the first

525
00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:29,400
trooper said, I could have just run up there and

526
00:34:29,519 --> 00:34:33,400
beat your ass. It would have been totally justified, and

527
00:34:33,480 --> 00:34:36,239
I didn't. I just wanted to take the time to

528
00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:39,039
give you the chance to do what you're supposed to do.

529
00:34:39,679 --> 00:34:42,400
After the incident, the trooper told staff of the jail,

530
00:34:42,519 --> 00:34:44,800
I hate to bring you one. That's all freyed up

531
00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:48,119
like that. The troopers written use of force report is

532
00:34:48,239 --> 00:34:51,320
riddled with statements that are inconsistent with the camera footage

533
00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:56,199
from the incident. Despite numerous policy violations and the unconstitutional

534
00:34:56,360 --> 00:35:00,159
use of force, there is no evidence of meaningful supervisor

535
00:35:00,119 --> 00:35:05,320
review of the incideut systematic failures and supervision include ineffective

536
00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:10,559
force reviews, deficiencies and policies and training, chronic underreporting of force,

537
00:35:10,719 --> 00:35:15,400
and failure to provide appropriate supervisory tools, and they say

538
00:35:15,599 --> 00:35:21,159
LSP supervisors do not conduct meaningful force reviews. Although LSP

539
00:35:21,239 --> 00:35:24,960
has updated its policies and improved its information systems to

540
00:35:25,039 --> 00:35:29,519
make force reporting more efficient, the lack of meaningful supervisory

541
00:35:29,559 --> 00:35:34,159
force reviews and oversight persisted. Rather than conduct meaningful reviews,

542
00:35:34,199 --> 00:35:38,920
supervisor weight for criminal and administrative investigations to run their

543
00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:43,559
course before taking preventative action. One former high ranking LSP

544
00:35:43,679 --> 00:35:46,840
official described the video of mister Green's death as an

545
00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:52,280
absolute disgust, embarrassment that officers spoke that way and the

546
00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:56,280
excessive force used. It was just an uneasy feeling. Yet,

547
00:35:56,360 --> 00:36:00,920
in response to repeated questions from various legislators, he cannot

548
00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:04,880
recall any recommendations he made or other action taken to

549
00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:09,119
protect the public beyond the start of an investigation. For example,

550
00:36:09,519 --> 00:36:13,159
the troopers were not placed on administrative leave or assigned

551
00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:17,599
additional supervision in the field. A training supervisor involved in

552
00:36:17,639 --> 00:36:21,679
the force review process testified that he learned that one

553
00:36:21,719 --> 00:36:24,280
of the troopers had not been placed on administrative leave

554
00:36:24,519 --> 00:36:27,519
after Green's death when the trooper was involved in another

555
00:36:27,719 --> 00:36:32,880
troubling force incident a year later. So they really hammered

556
00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:37,599
down the fact that even when these incidents happen, it

557
00:36:37,679 --> 00:36:41,960
seems that the supervisors are not doing anything about it.

558
00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:45,119
And of course if you're not doing anything about it,

559
00:36:45,119 --> 00:36:47,360
it's going to continue. Right then. It goes into the

560
00:36:47,519 --> 00:36:52,199
underreporting of forces. Says troopers do not consistently report using

561
00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:55,400
force and supervisors failed to ensure the troopers under the

562
00:36:55,400 --> 00:37:00,280
command report force accurately and completely. Individual US use of

563
00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:04,159
force reports enable supervisory reviews and are the source for

564
00:37:04,559 --> 00:37:11,320
lsp's force statistics, which LSP reviews annually to identify policy, training,

565
00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:16,559
and equipment needs. LSB troopers significantly under report both deadly

566
00:37:16,679 --> 00:37:21,079
and non deadly force. We review video from randomly selected

567
00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:24,119
arrest around the state that did not appear to have

568
00:37:24,199 --> 00:37:27,519
an associated use of Force report. We identified a number

569
00:37:27,599 --> 00:37:30,639
of incidents in which troopers used force and did not

570
00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:34,079
report it at all, or where the incidents did not

571
00:37:34,159 --> 00:37:38,679
appear to be included in the internal force statistics or analysis.

572
00:37:39,039 --> 00:37:43,800
Such under reporting undermines lsp's efforts to identify trends in

573
00:37:43,920 --> 00:37:48,920
training opportunities. We also found instances where all the troopers

574
00:37:49,239 --> 00:37:52,920
filed use of force reports, they did not report all

575
00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:56,719
the force used. For example, a trooper did not report

576
00:37:56,800 --> 00:38:00,199
slamming a man's head into a car window and he

577
00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:04,199
pulled him over four tened window violations, though he did

578
00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:07,400
report using forced ope in the man's mouth and retrieve

579
00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:11,480
a small plastic bag with white powdered residue. According to

580
00:38:11,559 --> 00:38:15,880
the audit trail of the INCR video, the troopers direct

581
00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:19,239
supervisors signed off on the report, and they did not

582
00:38:19,360 --> 00:38:23,840
even review the video of the incident. The supervisors also

583
00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:27,920
did not document any concerns of questions about the force used,

584
00:38:28,079 --> 00:38:32,119
leaving the review section of the use of force report blank.

585
00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:36,679
Lsp's internal documents reflect an awareness within the agency that

586
00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:41,000
troopers under report force. Around early twenty twenty one, after

587
00:38:41,079 --> 00:38:45,280
footage of mister Green's death became public, the then Superintendent

588
00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:49,559
of LSP organized an internal audit team to review body

589
00:38:49,599 --> 00:38:53,239
worn and in camera footage from some troopers and troop

590
00:38:53,400 --> 00:38:57,639
F to identify legal violations. During that review, one member

591
00:38:57,639 --> 00:39:00,920
of the audit team analyzed lsp's use of force by

592
00:39:00,960 --> 00:39:03,960
the race of the subject of the force writing. Part

593
00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:06,519
of the problem, one could argue, is that our personnels

594
00:39:06,679 --> 00:39:10,079
under reports use of force incidents, so they acknowledged they

595
00:39:10,119 --> 00:39:12,880
had a problem right there. Then it goes into troopers

596
00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:16,719
failed to reassess the threats posed by individuals when using

597
00:39:16,880 --> 00:39:21,920
force following vehicle pursuits. The use of force following pursuits

598
00:39:22,079 --> 00:39:27,000
is not uncommon. LSP troopers engaged in nearly seven hundred

599
00:39:27,079 --> 00:39:30,320
vehicle pursuits in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three,

600
00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:34,719
averaging almost one pursuit per day over the two year period.

601
00:39:35,239 --> 00:39:38,559
At least ten percent of these pursuits resulted in use

602
00:39:38,599 --> 00:39:43,840
of force. Lsp's internal reporting acknowledges that twenty percent of

603
00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:48,079
use of force incidents statewide in twenty twenty two followed

604
00:39:48,119 --> 00:39:54,840
a vehicle pursuit. Lsp's policy gives troopers broad discretion to initiate,

605
00:39:54,920 --> 00:40:00,360
continue in terminate of pursuit. Although policy requires supervisors to

606
00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:04,920
monitor pursuits and call them off if conditions become too dangerous.

607
00:40:05,360 --> 00:40:08,760
One troop captain told us historically it was perceived as

608
00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:13,079
a negative to stop a pursuit. We reviewed a random

609
00:40:13,159 --> 00:40:17,280
sample of incidents in which LLSP troopers reported using force

610
00:40:17,440 --> 00:40:21,159
following pursueds in addition to the incidents we reviewed as

611
00:40:21,239 --> 00:40:24,159
part of our broader use of force sample or review

612
00:40:24,239 --> 00:40:29,280
found that LSP troopers routinely initiate and continue proceeds following

613
00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:35,440
minor traffic offenses, escalating minor infractions into dangerous incidents that

614
00:40:35,559 --> 00:40:40,599
sometimes resulted in unreasonable force. A former LSP leader told

615
00:40:40,639 --> 00:40:44,519
us that troopers tended to be hyped and aggressive during proceeds.

616
00:40:45,039 --> 00:40:48,800
Having been in those situations, he explained, your adrenaline kicks

617
00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:52,679
in and you get a more narrow scope. You're looking

618
00:40:52,880 --> 00:40:56,920
at threat from your lens. We need to find a

619
00:40:56,920 --> 00:41:01,119
way to escalate these situations as opposed to ramping them up.

620
00:41:01,159 --> 00:41:04,920
But our review found that instead of de escalating, troopers

621
00:41:05,199 --> 00:41:10,840
escalate situations by using force, including unreasonable force, after pursuits

622
00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:15,360
without evaluating whether a person who fled poses an additional

623
00:41:15,519 --> 00:41:18,719
or continued risk. And they give an example In one

624
00:41:18,800 --> 00:41:22,800
such incident, troopers and officers from another agency fired sixty

625
00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:25,960
one rounds at a vehicle stuck in the mud after

626
00:41:26,039 --> 00:41:29,519
the driver led police on a twenty eight minute through

627
00:41:29,599 --> 00:41:33,920
two parishes. The pursuit began when an LSP trooper attempted

628
00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:36,960
to stop the vehicle for speeding on the highway. The

629
00:41:37,079 --> 00:41:41,280
driver did not stop, and other officers joined in the chase.

630
00:41:41,360 --> 00:41:45,320
The driver continued fleeing after spike strips deployed by police

631
00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:49,280
impacted the vehicle's two front tires. It was not until

632
00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:51,639
the driver came to the end of a dead end

633
00:41:51,719 --> 00:41:55,519
dirt road and drove into a field that the vehicle stopped.

634
00:41:56,039 --> 00:41:59,559
Troopers and officers arrived and ordered the driver to exit

635
00:41:59,599 --> 00:42:03,719
the vehicle. The driver drove the vehicle backwards and forwards

636
00:42:03,760 --> 00:42:06,960
about five to ten feet in either direction before being

637
00:42:07,119 --> 00:42:10,320
coming stuck in the mud. Troopers asked for permission from

638
00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:13,800
LSP sergeant on the scene to shoot at the vehicle.

639
00:42:14,039 --> 00:42:16,400
The sergeant gave the order to take it out, and

640
00:42:16,440 --> 00:42:20,719
the sergeant, together with two LSP troopers and two local officers,

641
00:42:20,760 --> 00:42:24,280
fired at the vehicle from about fifteen to twenty feet away.

642
00:42:24,960 --> 00:42:29,400
After shooting at the vehicle, fifteen times with his handgun.

643
00:42:29,719 --> 00:42:32,840
One of the LSP troopers said he has no tires,

644
00:42:33,239 --> 00:42:37,079
he ain't going nowhere, and then he continued shooting nineteen

645
00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:41,719
more times with a rifle. After about twelve minutes, the

646
00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:44,800
sergeant approached the vehicle and used his baton to break

647
00:42:44,800 --> 00:42:48,239
the windows to gain entry into the vehicle. The driver

648
00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:51,800
sustained cuts on his arm from broken glass and was

649
00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:56,039
taken into custody. At the time troopers fired at the vehicle,

650
00:42:56,119 --> 00:42:59,639
the purceited ended and the driver was neither flee nor

651
00:42:59,760 --> 00:43:03,760
PoID using a threat that warned use of deadly force

652
00:43:03,880 --> 00:43:07,280
to apprehend him. In addition to leading to a necessary

653
00:43:07,320 --> 00:43:11,840
and sometimes unreasonable use of force, lsp's pursuit practices put

654
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:15,079
the broader public at risk. In twenty twenty two and

655
00:43:15,159 --> 00:43:17,840
twenty twenty three, more than ten percent of the vehicle

656
00:43:17,880 --> 00:43:21,840
pursuits ended in a crash, on average one every ten days.

657
00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:27,039
These crashes can and do involve innocent bystanders. Then it

658
00:43:27,079 --> 00:43:31,760
goes into lsp's training and tactics encourage aggressive behavior and

659
00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:37,239
escalates encounters, making unnecessary force more likely. In the hundreds

660
00:43:37,280 --> 00:43:40,400
of hours of camera footage that we reviewed, it was

661
00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:44,039
apparent that some troopers perceived everyone to be a threat.

662
00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:48,880
We saw many incidents in which troopers used profane and

663
00:43:49,039 --> 00:43:52,079
unprofessional language, ordering people to get out of the fucking

664
00:43:52,159 --> 00:43:56,480
car or to show their fucking hands. Troopers also threaten people,

665
00:43:56,599 --> 00:43:59,599
saying they would blow your fucking head off or shoot

666
00:43:59,599 --> 00:44:04,000
your fat ass. In one example, after reviewing an incident

667
00:44:04,079 --> 00:44:06,760
in which a trooper screamed at a driver that he

668
00:44:06,800 --> 00:44:10,519
would shoot his fucking ass and then taste him numerous times,

669
00:44:10,599 --> 00:44:14,119
one supervisor noted that he understood the trooper was amped

670
00:44:14,239 --> 00:44:17,440
up and congratulated the trooper on a good job. This

671
00:44:17,559 --> 00:44:23,039
aggressive language, while not itself unconstitutional, escalates situation and often

672
00:44:23,079 --> 00:44:26,840
goes hand in hand with unnecessary force. In the incidents

673
00:44:26,920 --> 00:44:31,239
we reviewed, when troopers use aggressive or profane language in

674
00:44:31,320 --> 00:44:34,679
conjunction with force, it was more likely that at least

675
00:44:35,039 --> 00:44:40,039
one use of force was unreasonable. For example, troopers tased

676
00:44:40,079 --> 00:44:41,880
a man in the back while he was standing with

677
00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:44,079
his hands in the air, and then beat him with

678
00:44:44,239 --> 00:44:48,800
their fists, apparently in retaliation for attempting to evade capture.

679
00:44:49,239 --> 00:44:52,360
Four days before the incident, a female trooper had tried

680
00:44:52,360 --> 00:44:54,719
to arrest a man during a traffic stop, but he

681
00:44:54,800 --> 00:44:58,119
fled and escape. When troopers later went to the man's

682
00:44:58,159 --> 00:45:01,480
home with an arrest warrant, he fled again in his vehicle.

683
00:45:01,639 --> 00:45:04,719
When the vehicle finally stopped in a residential yard, the

684
00:45:04,760 --> 00:45:07,000
man got out of the car and turned to face

685
00:45:07,119 --> 00:45:10,760
it with his hands up. An LSP trooper tased him

686
00:45:10,760 --> 00:45:14,199
in the back. Five troopers, including some in playing clothes,

687
00:45:14,280 --> 00:45:16,840
and pinned him down, tased him and punched him more

688
00:45:16,880 --> 00:45:19,960
than twenty times in his head and body, even though

689
00:45:20,000 --> 00:45:24,000
he was restrained, unarmed, and did not appear to be resisting.

690
00:45:24,440 --> 00:45:27,079
One of the troopers grabbed the man's head and slammed

691
00:45:27,119 --> 00:45:29,800
it into the ground. Another trooper held his head in

692
00:45:29,880 --> 00:45:34,440
the dirt for approximately twenty seconds after many uses of force.

693
00:45:34,559 --> 00:45:37,039
When placing the man in the patrol car, a trooper

694
00:45:37,079 --> 00:45:39,840
told him, you're a piece of shit. You're a first

695
00:45:39,920 --> 00:45:42,719
rate fucking piece of shit. You want to try to

696
00:45:42,800 --> 00:45:47,599
run and fight a fucking girl. And it actually has

697
00:45:47,719 --> 00:45:52,000
pictures from that incident in the report, which I'm gonna

698
00:45:52,079 --> 00:45:55,440
link in the description of this video. Then it goes

699
00:45:55,519 --> 00:46:00,000
into lsp's failure to open investigations when people file complete

700
00:46:00,840 --> 00:46:05,639
for misconduct, says under LSP policing and investigation should be

701
00:46:05,679 --> 00:46:09,239
open when a person files a complaint making an allegation that,

702
00:46:09,400 --> 00:46:14,760
if true, would require disciplinary action in contravention of its

703
00:46:14,760 --> 00:46:17,719
own policy. Many of the complaints do not make it

704
00:46:17,840 --> 00:46:22,280
past the intake stage because LSP decides not to open

705
00:46:22,320 --> 00:46:27,639
an investigation for improper reasons. This means LSP misses opportunities

706
00:46:27,679 --> 00:46:31,360
to intervene in the behavior that harms the public, including

707
00:46:31,519 --> 00:46:37,559
possible excessive force violations. For example, LSP disregarded domestic abuse

708
00:46:37,599 --> 00:46:40,480
allegations when it failed to investigate a complaint from a

709
00:46:40,559 --> 00:46:44,199
trooper's ex wife. The ex wife alleged that her former

710
00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:48,280
spouse was abusing his position in law enforcement by intercepting

711
00:46:48,320 --> 00:46:51,639
her nine one one calls and harassing her in other ways,

712
00:46:52,039 --> 00:46:57,480
conduct that, if true, would clearly warrant discipline, but IA

713
00:46:57,840 --> 00:47:01,639
marked the allegations unfounded in did not open an investigation

714
00:47:01,760 --> 00:47:05,760
into the complaint. The only explanation provided for the decision

715
00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:09,719
was that after a review, it was determined there's insufficient

716
00:47:09,760 --> 00:47:14,719
evidence to initiate an administrative investigation. There was no record

717
00:47:14,760 --> 00:47:19,440
of whether LSP contacted the ex wife, reviewed any supporting materials,

718
00:47:19,920 --> 00:47:23,199
or check nine one one records. Instead of opening an

719
00:47:23,239 --> 00:47:27,840
investigation is required by LSP policy. IA held this woman

720
00:47:27,920 --> 00:47:32,239
to an impermissible standard, discounting her complaint for insufficient evidence

721
00:47:32,280 --> 00:47:36,599
before it could even gather evidence through a formal investigation.

722
00:47:37,440 --> 00:47:40,880
In another case, IA failed to open an investigation after

723
00:47:40,920 --> 00:47:44,920
receiving allegations of troopers showed an alarming lack of courtesy

724
00:47:45,400 --> 00:47:49,400
toward a severely injured driver following a crash that left

725
00:47:49,440 --> 00:47:52,679
the driver with a broken leg, pelvis, and nose and

726
00:47:52,880 --> 00:47:56,559
stuck waists deep in a ditch of water. A bystander

727
00:47:56,639 --> 00:48:00,840
contacted IA to complain about the trooper's response. She alleged

728
00:48:00,880 --> 00:48:03,960
the trooper refused to stop to help the stranded driver,

729
00:48:04,239 --> 00:48:07,039
instead ordering him to come to the shoulder of the

730
00:48:07,119 --> 00:48:11,159
road along with another person. The bystander had to help

731
00:48:11,199 --> 00:48:14,199
the driver out of the car. Despite the complaint, IA

732
00:48:14,440 --> 00:48:17,679
did not want to open an investigation into the trooper's

733
00:48:17,760 --> 00:48:22,119
failure to render aid. In twenty twenty three, another person

734
00:48:22,199 --> 00:48:25,840
filed a complaint against the same trooper, stating she felt

735
00:48:25,840 --> 00:48:29,079
the trooper was discourteous to her during a traffic stop

736
00:48:29,159 --> 00:48:33,000
and treated her differently because she was not white. IA

737
00:48:33,079 --> 00:48:36,480
reviewed body warn camera footage of the stop and Native.

738
00:48:36,519 --> 00:48:39,599
The trooper appeared agitated and yelled at the driver to

739
00:48:39,639 --> 00:48:43,239
get off the damn road. IA documented that the trooper

740
00:48:43,280 --> 00:48:45,920
told the driver, how much more clear do you need

741
00:48:45,960 --> 00:48:47,840
me to be? Would you want me to tell you

742
00:48:47,880 --> 00:48:51,280
in Spanish? Because I can tell you in Spanish. IA

743
00:48:51,559 --> 00:48:56,000
did not open an investigation. Although internal affairs can now

744
00:48:56,079 --> 00:48:59,679
receive complaints online as of June twenty twenty four, LSP

745
00:48:59,760 --> 00:49:03,679
didn't if I have a central repository for incoming complaints.

746
00:49:03,679 --> 00:49:07,559
When a community member calls or walks into a troops station,

747
00:49:08,360 --> 00:49:12,440
each troop decides what to log and document in the records.

748
00:49:12,440 --> 00:49:16,960
This leads to a significant variation across Louisiana State Police.

749
00:49:17,440 --> 00:49:20,559
If after talking to a person, the sergeant fielding the

750
00:49:20,559 --> 00:49:24,840
complaint decides the person has not alleged a policy violation,

751
00:49:25,199 --> 00:49:28,079
they do not document the complaint or send it up

752
00:49:28,119 --> 00:49:32,039
the chain of command. In addition, troops often minimize misconduct

753
00:49:32,079 --> 00:49:36,880
handling serious allegations that they should instead send IA by

754
00:49:36,880 --> 00:49:40,840
the same token. IA sometimes refers cases to the troops

755
00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:45,960
when it should be investigating the misconduct itself. One case

756
00:49:46,039 --> 00:49:50,559
we reviewed exemplified these deficiencies when a sergeant failed to

757
00:49:50,679 --> 00:49:54,639
upload body worn camera footage for nearly six months and

758
00:49:54,679 --> 00:49:59,079
mislabel many of his arrest videos as non events. His

759
00:49:59,280 --> 00:50:03,159
captain is instructed a lieutenant to conduct an investigation into

760
00:50:03,199 --> 00:50:07,400
the sergeant's actions. The lieutenant ultimately found that the sergeant

761
00:50:07,440 --> 00:50:13,440
engaged in unsatisfactory performance and committed bodywarn camera policy violations,

762
00:50:14,039 --> 00:50:17,159
but his interview with the sergeant lasted less than ten

763
00:50:17,199 --> 00:50:21,280
minutes and did not probe the sergeant's explanations for his behaviors,

764
00:50:21,639 --> 00:50:25,440
his understanding of policies, or whether he supervised and reviewed

765
00:50:25,480 --> 00:50:29,639
troopers use of body warn cameras. The sergeant's troop did

766
00:50:29,679 --> 00:50:34,159
not ask IA to investigate him. Instead, his troops leadership

767
00:50:34,280 --> 00:50:39,599
narrowly read his misconduct as procedural violations and accepted his

768
00:50:39,760 --> 00:50:45,039
explanations without taking further action to prevent future violations. This

769
00:50:45,239 --> 00:50:48,960
failure is all more concerning giving the frontline role that

770
00:50:49,079 --> 00:50:54,199
sergeants play in reviewing bodywarn camera footage for potential violations,

771
00:50:54,239 --> 00:50:58,760
including the use of excessive force. In another example, both

772
00:50:58,840 --> 00:51:02,239
IA and the true failed to act despite clear signs

773
00:51:02,239 --> 00:51:06,360
that a trooper had committed significant violations. Over several years,

774
00:51:06,559 --> 00:51:10,880
the troopers lieutenant discovered and documented multiple arrests where the

775
00:51:10,880 --> 00:51:15,360
trooper falsified evidence. For instance, the trooper arrested a driver

776
00:51:15,519 --> 00:51:18,840
for DWI in possession of a firearm in the presence

777
00:51:18,840 --> 00:51:22,159
of a controlled substance based on a breath test that

778
00:51:22,360 --> 00:51:27,000
showed a zero percent blood alcohol content and a glass

779
00:51:27,039 --> 00:51:31,119
bottle the troopers said contained quote unquote meth oil. The bottle,

780
00:51:31,199 --> 00:51:33,920
which turned out to be empty, came back negative for

781
00:51:34,039 --> 00:51:39,280
traces of methamphetamine. The lieutenant observed that the troopers incidents

782
00:51:39,280 --> 00:51:43,480
have grown more serious and that the trooper's actions call

783
00:51:43,800 --> 00:51:49,599
the department's reputation into question. Troop leadership ultimately referred these

784
00:51:49,639 --> 00:51:54,239
incidents to IA, but we found no evidence IA investigated him.

785
00:51:54,320 --> 00:51:57,159
A few years later, the same trooper was disciplined for

786
00:51:57,280 --> 00:52:02,079
four more violations, including mishandling it a DWRS, tampering with

787
00:52:02,320 --> 00:52:06,559
property at a gem while on duty, and making inappropriate

788
00:52:06,599 --> 00:52:10,559
social media posts, including one that mocked a black colleague's promotion.

789
00:52:11,199 --> 00:52:15,199
Because LSP never investigated the trooper for his previous incidents

790
00:52:15,199 --> 00:52:19,440
of falsifying evidence, none of these later decisions to discipline

791
00:52:19,519 --> 00:52:23,920
him made reference to his record of questionable integrity. He

792
00:52:24,039 --> 00:52:28,920
continued to violate LSP policies. His supervisors wrote him up

793
00:52:29,039 --> 00:52:33,280
an additional five times, including for not calling out stops

794
00:52:33,320 --> 00:52:36,679
while on patrol and failing to file a use of

795
00:52:36,840 --> 00:52:40,039
force report in time, but his troop did not formally

796
00:52:40,119 --> 00:52:45,159
open its own investigation or refer these violations to IA. Instead,

797
00:52:45,480 --> 00:52:50,679
the troops simply prohibited him from working overtime assignments. And

798
00:52:50,719 --> 00:52:53,880
it goes on to say even where LSP policy is

799
00:52:53,920 --> 00:52:58,320
clear and requires IA to investigate certain misconducts, such as

800
00:52:58,519 --> 00:53:03,599
racial bias allegation, we found that IA sometimes improperly sends

801
00:53:03,639 --> 00:53:08,360
those complaints to the troops or otherwise fails to meaningly respond.

802
00:53:08,719 --> 00:53:12,239
A black passenger of a car contacted IA wanting to

803
00:53:12,320 --> 00:53:14,800
file a complaint against the trooper, who he believed it

804
00:53:15,000 --> 00:53:18,119
racially profiled everyone in the car when the trooper pulled

805
00:53:18,400 --> 00:53:22,039
them over for not having a visible license plate. An

806
00:53:22,079 --> 00:53:25,599
I investigator contacted the driver, who told them he did

807
00:53:25,639 --> 00:53:28,599
not want to file a complaint, but agreed with the

808
00:53:28,639 --> 00:53:32,840
passenger that they were racially profiled. The driver told IA

809
00:53:32,880 --> 00:53:35,880
and wanted the trooper to receive training that would prevent

810
00:53:35,960 --> 00:53:39,480
a situation like this in the future, rather than opening

811
00:53:39,519 --> 00:53:42,880
an investigation to gather more facts from the passenger, who

812
00:53:42,960 --> 00:53:47,480
did wish to file a complaint, reviewing body worn camera footage,

813
00:53:47,519 --> 00:53:52,440
and interviewing the trooper as required. IA instead referred the

814
00:53:52,480 --> 00:53:56,320
passenger's complaint to the trooper's captain and then close the case.

815
00:53:56,440 --> 00:54:00,960
We found no evidence of the troop opening its investigation

816
00:54:01,280 --> 00:54:05,079
into the allegations, and it goes on to say due

817
00:54:05,199 --> 00:54:09,199
to failures and force reporting in supervision, IA has also

818
00:54:09,320 --> 00:54:14,480
missed critical moments to promptly intervene in other excessive force incidents.

819
00:54:14,519 --> 00:54:18,360
For example, after a trooper repeatedly struck a black man

820
00:54:18,440 --> 00:54:21,599
in the head with a flashlight, the trooper mislabeled the

821
00:54:21,760 --> 00:54:25,519
body worn camera footage as a quote unquote citizen encounter

822
00:54:25,960 --> 00:54:29,239
without reporting the use of force. Later, when the incident

823
00:54:29,320 --> 00:54:33,400
came to light, the trooper lied to the CID by

824
00:54:33,519 --> 00:54:37,119
saying he only struck the driver's hands and nod his head.

825
00:54:37,639 --> 00:54:41,079
I investigated the incident nearly a year and a half

826
00:54:41,199 --> 00:54:45,039
after the assault, only after the driver filed a lawsuit

827
00:54:45,159 --> 00:54:49,159
against LSP, and in the intervening months, the same trooper

828
00:54:49,280 --> 00:54:53,119
assaulted to other black men. Then it gives another example.

829
00:54:53,159 --> 00:54:56,599
It says a trooper engaged in a dangerous high speed

830
00:54:56,760 --> 00:55:00,840
chase of a car that was reported stolen multiple red

831
00:55:00,920 --> 00:55:04,599
lights in a busy downtown area, ramming into the car

832
00:55:04,639 --> 00:55:07,199
to make it stop, and then shooting one of the

833
00:55:07,280 --> 00:55:10,639
passengers who was trying to escape through a window. The

834
00:55:10,679 --> 00:55:14,239
trooper claimed the passenger appointed a gun at him, and

835
00:55:14,440 --> 00:55:19,000
CID cleared him for any criminal liability related to the shooting.

836
00:55:19,400 --> 00:55:23,679
When I reviewed the incident, it failed to identify obvious

837
00:55:23,719 --> 00:55:28,280
policy violations in the trooper's risky vehicle purceipt tactics, such

838
00:55:28,280 --> 00:55:31,239
as running red lights on a crowded street and his

839
00:55:31,480 --> 00:55:34,960
decision to ram the vehicle with his patrol car. Instead,

840
00:55:35,119 --> 00:55:40,199
I wade a two page memorandum summarizing and accepting the

841
00:55:40,679 --> 00:55:45,159
CID's findings. So at the end of this report, y'all,

842
00:55:45,719 --> 00:55:51,480
they always have a conclusion, right, And the conclusion isn't

843
00:55:51,760 --> 00:55:57,079
long on this one. It's literally like one sentence, but

844
00:55:57,199 --> 00:56:00,119
it's it's disturbing. It's kind of telling in it, and

845
00:56:00,159 --> 00:56:03,360
it tells me there's a problem at LSP. And it

846
00:56:03,480 --> 00:56:07,320
says the Department of Justice has a reasonable cause to

847
00:56:07,400 --> 00:56:11,519
believe that LSP engages in a pattern or practice of

848
00:56:11,639 --> 00:56:16,159
using excessive force that deprives people of the rights under

849
00:56:16,760 --> 00:56:21,599
the Constitution. And then it goes into recommending remedial measures.

850
00:56:22,920 --> 00:56:26,199
I'm not going to get into all that. That's something

851
00:56:26,360 --> 00:56:28,719
that Louisiana State Police is going to have to take

852
00:56:28,719 --> 00:56:35,000
a look at and thinks. But two investigations of some

853
00:56:35,039 --> 00:56:41,079
pretty big Louisiana departments over the last month have kind

854
00:56:41,119 --> 00:56:43,840
of broke and this one is making a lot of

855
00:56:43,880 --> 00:56:46,639
headlines here in the state of Louisiana. So this was

856
00:56:46,719 --> 00:56:50,039
kind of an emergency podcast if you will. Like I said,

857
00:56:50,079 --> 00:56:53,480
I had a whole another podcast plan for today, so

858
00:56:53,599 --> 00:56:57,920
you'll get that next week. Thank you so much for listening,

859
00:56:58,360 --> 00:57:03,440
and until next time, I'm Jim Chapman for Bloody Angla,

860
00:57:03,880 --> 00:57:08,519
a podcast two years and making the complete story of

861
00:57:08,599 --> 00:57:11,760
America's bloodiest present peace.

862
00:57:27,239 --> 00:57:37,760
Speaker 1: A Wall Street line, Shackle Chaine, who's some girdie? It's

863
00:57:37,880 --> 00:57:44,280
calling my name? There is no mercy and it's been

864
00:57:44,440 --> 00:57:52,239
a tentery juice as the huge stream game Wrangle of three.

865
00:57:54,440 --> 00:57:59,559
Speaker 2: I'm here by me to die.

866
00:58:01,199 --> 00:58:06,400
Speaker 1: Inside these wars, inside the wild.

867
00:58:07,960 --> 00:58:09,239
Speaker 2: And when the walk

868
00:58:10,960 --> 00:58:26,159
Speaker 1: As I know, it's sublody anglebody angle,