Cops Harassing Random Motorists - February 24, 2024
- 2 months ago
In a period of roughly four hours on the evening/night of February 24th, 2024, deputies of the Caldwell Parish, Louisiana sheriff's office followed/stalked, ran the license plates of, ran warrant checks on, and stopped a very large amount of motorists. Among the people stopped, a handful were stopped after the deputy "accidentally" misread their license plate, and one was stopped allegedly for "no license plate."
One deputy/K9 handler wasn't supposed to be on-shift that night, meaning he chose to spend his off-duty time harassing motorists (many of whom were black). He spends an awful lot of time hanging around the female deputy (who is a narcotics detective) and her husband (who was once a nightshift supervisor and K9 handler before a series of lawsuits in 2020). Another deputy was on-duty for the town of Columbia police department that night, and instead of patrolling throughout the town, he chose to harass motorists on the highway with the other deputies. Another deputy, heard late in the recording, is a recent hire. He hasn't been through the police academy and is not POST certified, meaning the only training he's received is on-the-job alongside these other criminals.
The K9 handler, at one point, thanked another deputy for the pizza he bought. That's interesting because the last time pizza was mentioned over the radio (2021), the deputies had the munchies after consuming some evidence during a bust. Yes, really. Now, why these deputies were harassing all these motorists, we don't know, but I have a theory.
The K9 handler and several other deputies, not working that night, are defendants in a civil rights lawsuit filed in 2022 after they allegedly handcuffed a man to a chair and beat him with flashlights, causing skull and spinal fractures. That suit is set to go to trial in April which will undoubtedly result in a massive financial judgment, assuming they don't reach a massive settlement in March. Additionally, the former K9 handler who's married to the narc, is named in a lawsuit from 2020 after excessive and unreasonable force was used during an illegal traffic stop. With these suits coming to a head, and the SO not having money to pay due to embezzlement and mismanagement (plus their insurance co. reportedly dropping them due to all the excessive force incidents in the last few years), I suspect these deputies were looking to make a bust or something to help pay the legal expenses they're about to be hit with.
No matter the reason, the sheriff calls this "highway drug interdiction." I, on the other hand, call it predatory policing. What do you think?
One deputy/K9 handler wasn't supposed to be on-shift that night, meaning he chose to spend his off-duty time harassing motorists (many of whom were black). He spends an awful lot of time hanging around the female deputy (who is a narcotics detective) and her husband (who was once a nightshift supervisor and K9 handler before a series of lawsuits in 2020). Another deputy was on-duty for the town of Columbia police department that night, and instead of patrolling throughout the town, he chose to harass motorists on the highway with the other deputies. Another deputy, heard late in the recording, is a recent hire. He hasn't been through the police academy and is not POST certified, meaning the only training he's received is on-the-job alongside these other criminals.
The K9 handler, at one point, thanked another deputy for the pizza he bought. That's interesting because the last time pizza was mentioned over the radio (2021), the deputies had the munchies after consuming some evidence during a bust. Yes, really. Now, why these deputies were harassing all these motorists, we don't know, but I have a theory.
The K9 handler and several other deputies, not working that night, are defendants in a civil rights lawsuit filed in 2022 after they allegedly handcuffed a man to a chair and beat him with flashlights, causing skull and spinal fractures. That suit is set to go to trial in April which will undoubtedly result in a massive financial judgment, assuming they don't reach a massive settlement in March. Additionally, the former K9 handler who's married to the narc, is named in a lawsuit from 2020 after excessive and unreasonable force was used during an illegal traffic stop. With these suits coming to a head, and the SO not having money to pay due to embezzlement and mismanagement (plus their insurance co. reportedly dropping them due to all the excessive force incidents in the last few years), I suspect these deputies were looking to make a bust or something to help pay the legal expenses they're about to be hit with.
No matter the reason, the sheriff calls this "highway drug interdiction." I, on the other hand, call it predatory policing. What do you think?