Deputy Harassing Motorists - November 21, 2023
- 5 months ago
Throughout the day on November 21st, 2023, a Caldwell Parish, Louisiana sheriff's deputy followed/stalked, ran/misran the license plates of, and stopped several motorists, and arrested one black motorist from out of town. A couple of other deputies ran a couple of license plates also, but not anywhere near the volume of that one particular deputy.
We start the day with the deputy stopping a volunteer firefighter for "[license plate] not legible." This was just two hours into his shift and he sounded as though he wasn't fully awake yet. He's not accustomed to seeing special plates on cars so I suspect he just couldn't comprehend the Volunteer Firefighter special plate that early in the morning.
A few hours later he stopped a young black man in a car with an Arkansas license plate, and at first forgot to call in that the plate was out of Arkansas. The dispatcher was unable to get any record for the plate, so I suspect he had misread one or more of the digits. He has been known to do that, both accidentally and "accidentally." He arrested the driver on a warrant.
This deputy absolutely loves stopping motorists for extremely petty or bogus reasons. He loves following random motorists and looking for any minor reason to make a stop, and I have personally observed him stop people absent any real violation because they were just driving too good. He loves turning traffic stops into a fishing expedition, searching vehicles, and arresting people. Sheriff Clay Bennett calls it "highway drug interdiction," but to me it looks and sounds more like predatory policing.
To be fair I guess he could have had legit reasons for stopping these people, but I find it difficult to believe based on his extensive history of preying on people and making bogus stops. It is beyond me as to why Bennett just keeps promoting him (first to dayshift after he destroyed a motorist's key fob during an illegal stop and then lied about it to investigators, then again to K9 handler after quite a bit more misconduct) instead of firing him.
We start the day with the deputy stopping a volunteer firefighter for "[license plate] not legible." This was just two hours into his shift and he sounded as though he wasn't fully awake yet. He's not accustomed to seeing special plates on cars so I suspect he just couldn't comprehend the Volunteer Firefighter special plate that early in the morning.
A few hours later he stopped a young black man in a car with an Arkansas license plate, and at first forgot to call in that the plate was out of Arkansas. The dispatcher was unable to get any record for the plate, so I suspect he had misread one or more of the digits. He has been known to do that, both accidentally and "accidentally." He arrested the driver on a warrant.
This deputy absolutely loves stopping motorists for extremely petty or bogus reasons. He loves following random motorists and looking for any minor reason to make a stop, and I have personally observed him stop people absent any real violation because they were just driving too good. He loves turning traffic stops into a fishing expedition, searching vehicles, and arresting people. Sheriff Clay Bennett calls it "highway drug interdiction," but to me it looks and sounds more like predatory policing.
To be fair I guess he could have had legit reasons for stopping these people, but I find it difficult to believe based on his extensive history of preying on people and making bogus stops. It is beyond me as to why Bennett just keeps promoting him (first to dayshift after he destroyed a motorist's key fob during an illegal stop and then lied about it to investigators, then again to K9 handler after quite a bit more misconduct) instead of firing him.