Off-Duty Cop Harassing Black Pedestrian - February 23, 2024
- 2 months ago
On the afternoon of February 23rd, 2024, an off-duty deputy/K9 handler of the Caldwell Parish, Louisiana sheriff's office was driving his patrol vehicle for personal business (by itself potentially illegal - more on that in a moment) of an unknown nature, when he spotted a black male presumably walking beside the highway, and decided to run a warrant check on the man. The dispatcher replied "10-4," not specifying whether she meant they did have a warrant or whether she was simply acknowledging his request.
The off-duty deputy waited there until two other deputies arrived, then called 10-7 (off-duty). After patting the man down and supposedly finding Sch. 1 drugs, they arrested him and took him to the jail. Of note, the dispatcher never advised what the arrest warrant was for or whether they had a paper printout (usually called a "hard copy") of it. Proper procedure is to verify that a hard copy of the warrant is on-file and that it has not been recalled because the person paid a fine. Because of this, we cannot say for certain that the warrant was valid, nor can we say for certain that the stop, search, and arrest were reasonable.
About the deputy being off-duty... The sheriff allows deputies to use their patrol vehicles for personal business while off-duty, at any time, for any purpose, and most of the deputies (except 12 and 16, who have more integrity than the others) take full advantage of that. Each instance of a deputy doing that, is likely a violation of Article 7 Section 14 of the Louisiana Constitution. It could theoretically be said that it also potentially constitutes LRS 14:134 (Malfeasance In Office) on the off-duty deputies' part, and that the sheriff allowing and encouraging deputies to do that, potentially constitutes Malfeasance on the sheriff's part.
The off-duty deputy waited there until two other deputies arrived, then called 10-7 (off-duty). After patting the man down and supposedly finding Sch. 1 drugs, they arrested him and took him to the jail. Of note, the dispatcher never advised what the arrest warrant was for or whether they had a paper printout (usually called a "hard copy") of it. Proper procedure is to verify that a hard copy of the warrant is on-file and that it has not been recalled because the person paid a fine. Because of this, we cannot say for certain that the warrant was valid, nor can we say for certain that the stop, search, and arrest were reasonable.
About the deputy being off-duty... The sheriff allows deputies to use their patrol vehicles for personal business while off-duty, at any time, for any purpose, and most of the deputies (except 12 and 16, who have more integrity than the others) take full advantage of that. Each instance of a deputy doing that, is likely a violation of Article 7 Section 14 of the Louisiana Constitution. It could theoretically be said that it also potentially constitutes LRS 14:134 (Malfeasance In Office) on the off-duty deputies' part, and that the sheriff allowing and encouraging deputies to do that, potentially constitutes Malfeasance on the sheriff's part.