AP investigation reveals pattern of beatings, shrouded in secrecy, by Louisiana State Police
In this March 2, 2019 image from police dashboard camera video obtained by The Associated Press, Louisiana State Trooper Jacob Brown slams motorist DeShawn Washington against the hood of a police cruiser during a traffic stop in Ouachita Parish, La., after troopers found marijuana in the trunk of Washington’s car, in a March 2, 2019 image from police dashboard camera video obtained by the AP. Use of force was omitted from the police report. (Louisiana State Police via AP)
By Jim Mustian and Jake Bleiberg
Law enforcement reporters Jim Mustian and Jake Bleiberg built on their previous reporting to reveal a devastating pattern of violence and secrecy at the Louisiana State Police, identifying at least a dozen beating cases over the past decade in which troopers or their bosses ignored or concealed evidence, deflected blame and impeded efforts to root out misconduct.
Their work, which included newly obtained video of some of the beatings, wins a Best of the Week award, emerging from an exceptionally strong week of entrants.
Their exclusive investigation was part of the fallout from the deadly 2019 arrest of Ronald Greene,whose death along a northern Louisiana road was initially blamed by troopers on a car crash. But the case was blown open this spring when the AP published long-withheld video showing what really happened — troopers stunning,punching and dragging the Black motorist as he pleaded for mercy and gasped for air.
Mustian and Bleiberg scoured investigative records and worked their sources to find out how often this kind of secrecy and obfuscation happens in the state police. And what they found went far beyond a string of similar cases and four new, long-buried videos.
A law enforcement officer applies an electric weapon to the back of Black motorist Antonio Harris as other officers restrain him on the side of a road after a high-speed chase in Franklin Parish, La., May 23, 2020, in an image from Louisiana State Police body camera video. Troopers exchanged 14 text messages peppered with “lol” and “haha” responses in which they boasted about the beating. – Trooper Larry Shappley / Louisiana State Police via AP
Louisiana State Trooper Jacob Brown throws motorist Morgan Blake to the ground following a traffic stop in Ouachita Parish, La., during which troopers found 13 pounds marijuana in the car, July 16, 2019, in an image from police dashboard camera video obtained by the AP. Brown threw Blake to the ground after he asked for his handcuffs to be adjusted. Trooper Randall “Colby” Dickerson then punched Blake five times and kneed him in the side, the footage shows. – Louisiana State Police via AP
Troopers hold down motorist Aaron Larry Bowman during a traffic stop, May 13, 2019, in an image from Louisiana State Police Trooper Jacob Brown’s body camera video obtained by the AP. The graphic video kept secret for more than two years shows a trooper pummeling Bowman 18 times with a flashlight, an attack the trooper defended as “pain compliance.” – Trooper Jacob Brown / Louisiana State Police via AP
Aaron Larry Bowman cries during an interview at his attorney’s office in Monroe, La., Aug. 5, 2021, as he discusses his injuries resulting from Louisiana State Trooper Jacob Brown pummeling him with a flashlight during a traffic stop in 2019. – AP Photo / Rogelio V. Solis
Louisiana State Police Trooper Jacob Brown is shown in a Dec, 10, 2020 photo provided by the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office. Graphic body camera video kept secret for more than two years shows Brown pummeling Black motorist Aaron Larry Bowman 18 times with a flashlight, an attack Brown defended as “pain compliance.” Records show Brown tallied 23 uses of force dating to 2015 — 19 on Black people — and he faces charges in three separate beatings. – Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office via AP
Louisiana State Police Troop F headquarters is shown in Monroe, La., Aug. 4, 2021. A seven-member panel had been reviewing thousands of hours of body camera footage from about a dozen specific troopers in northern Louisiana’s Troop F, including some of those involved in the beatings of Ronald Greene and three other Black motorists. But according to several people familiar with the matter who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity, the panel was abruptly disbanded in July 2021 after just a few months’ work following leaks about its existence. – AP Photo / Rogelio V. Solis
Darrell Smith is shown in custody of Louisiana State Police troopers after fleeing a a traffic stop near Baton Rouge, La., in an August 2019 photo provided by his attorney. Smith’s lawsuit contends that troopers caught up with him and beat him beyond recognition, causing him to be hospitalized with temporary kidney failure. A use-of-force report leaves unchecked whether body-camera video exists and lists Smith’s injuries as “nonincapacitating.” Smith’s lawsuit says troopers shared a photo of him after the beating with the caption: “This is what happens when you run from the police.” – Haley & Associates via AP
Louisiana state troopers hold Ronald Greene before paramedics arrive outside of Monroe, La., in a May 10, 2019 image from the body camera of Trooper Dakota DeMoss. Documents obtained exclusively by AP show top state police officials claiming Greene died of injuries when his car crashed, even though they were aware of body camera video showing troopers stunning, punching and dragging Greene as he apologizes after a high-speed chase. – Trooper Dakota DeMoss / Louisiana State Police via AP
An undated photo of Ronald Greene, provided by his family via the Baton Rouge chapter of the NAACP in September 2020, shows injuries on his body after he died during a May 2019 arrest by Louisiana State Police troopers after a high-speed chase. – Family photo via AP
Blood stains on the shield and uniform of Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth in West Monroe, La., are shown in a May 10, 2019 photo released by the Louisiana State Police after troopers punched, dragged and stunned Black motorist Ronald Greene during his fatal 2019 arrest. – Louisiana State Police via AP
AP Photo / Gerald Herbert – AP Photo / Gerald Herbert
They revealed that by the state police’s own count,67% of its uses of force in recent years have targeted Black people,double the percentage of the state’s Black population. They reported that a secret panel the state police set up this year to determine whether troopers systematically abused Black motorists was just as secretly shut down, leaving the agency blind to potential misconduct. And they revealed that a recently retired supervisor who oversaw a particularly violent clique of troopers told internal investigators this year that it was his “common practice” to rubber-stamp officers’ use-of-force reports without ever reviewing body camera video.
Col. Lamar Davis, superintendent of the Louisiana State Police, speaks at a press conference in Baton Rouge, May 21, 2021, discussing the case of Ronald Greene, who died during 2019 arrest. – AP Photo / Melinda Deslatte
Impact from the story was swift. The head of the state police,Col. Lamar Davis,called an hourlong news conference the next day,not to rebut the story,but to outline a series of reforms,promise to do better and say he would be open to a U.S. Justice Department “pattern and practice” investigation into potential racial profiling. In a personal call to Mustian just minutes later,Davis was even more candid,telling him: “I’m a Black male. I don’t want to feel like I’m going to be stopped and thrown across a car just because of that,and I don’t want anyone else to feel that way. … I don’t want the community thinking we’re going to ‘get them.’”
Soon after,Democratic U.S. Rep. Troy Carter cited the AP’s reporting in joining a growing chorus of officials and activists calling on the federal oversight of the state police. “I have no faith they are capable of policing themselves,” he said in a statement. “Had it not been for the work of investigative journalists, we may never have heard of Ronald Greene.”
Dallas-based reporter Jake Bleiberg, left, and New York-based reporter Jim Mustian pose for a photo at a Monroe, La., coffee shop, Aug. 4, 2021, while reporting on the Louisiana State Police. – AP Photo / Rogelio V. Solis
Mustian and Bleiberg’s story was accompanied by a video package by Stacey Plaisance,photos assembled by editor Patrick Sison and an online storytelling presentation by Dario Lopez that allowed readers to click on individual clips of the police beatings as they were mentioned in the story. The story was tweeted thousands of times and emerged as AP’s most-engaged story of a news-packed week, with readers spending an average of more than three minutes on the piece on AP News.
For dogged investigative reporting that peeled back the layers of case after case to reveal a pattern of abuse — and is effecting change in Louisiana — Mustian and Bleiberg earn AP’s Best of the Week — First Winner.
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