Illegally Parked Deputy - July 11, 2023

On July 11th, 2023, a Caldwell Parish Sheriff's Office deputy was dispatched to a local dollar store for a customer's bicycle being stolen from the parking lot. Right away the deputy ran a warrant check on the complainant/victim, which came back clean. This gives us a preview of how he feels about "civilians." When the deputy arrived at the store, he illegally parked halfway in the handicap space and halfway on the van-accessible wheelchair ramp, with no regard whatsoever for anybody who may have actually needed to park there or use that wheelchair unloading space. It actually surprised me to see someone take a photo and post it on Facebook, as most people in this town support the notion that police are above the law. It also surprised me to see the sheriff state that the call didn't justify the deputy parking there and that he had been reprimanded. It didn't surprise me to see both the sheriff and the deputy lie about the nature of the call and therefore also trying to justify the illegal parking. It's unclear what exactly the deputy's "reprimand" consisted of, if anything.

Of note, this was the same deputy who was involved in excessive force incidents on November 7th and 10th, 2022, on January 14th, 2023, and on August 31st, 2023. The incident on Nov. 7 left the victim with a broken arm and a SLAP tear (basically his entire limb is unusable) and unable to work, the incident on Nov. 10 caused the victim (who already had an excessive force lawsuit against other deputies) to spend almost 6 hours in the ER before he was cleared to be booked. The Jan. 14 incident involved a female arrestee and the excessive force took place in the booking room at the jail. The Aug. 31 incident left both the suspect and a fellow deputy with serious injuries. As of September 2nd, 2023, he's still on the force.