Cop who shot Alton Sterling faces new, unrelated charges
7th May 2018 · 0 Comments
Former Baton Rouge police officer Blane Salamoni, who fired six shots into Alton Sterling in 2016 and was terminated by the Baton Rouge Police Department earlier this spring, is facing new, unrelated charges after he was accused of slapping a handcuffed man less than a month before Sterling was fatally shot.
The Associated Press reported that BRPD detectives issued a court summons to Salamoni for a misdemeanor charge of simple battery after reviewing police body camera footage of the June 2016 incident.
Alton Sterling was shot three times in the chest and three times in the back by Officer Salamoni after the Officers Howie Lake II and Salamoni approached him while he was selling mixtape CDs outside the Triple S Food Mart in south Baton Rouge.
After the U.S. Department of Justice and Louisiana Attorney General’s Office refused to file charges against BRPD Officers Salamoni and Howie Lake II, the Baton Rouge Police Department terminated Salamoni in late March. Salamoni, who was captured on body cam footage in the Sterling incident threatening to blow off Sterling’s head and hurling obscenitiesground bleeding to death, reportedly called the day he was fired the worst day of his life.
The officer-involved killing of Alton Sterling and another shooting two days later near Minneapolis, Minn. sparked a series of national protests that ultimately led to the killing of three police officers in Baton Rouge, La. and five cops in Dallas, Texas.
The Associated Press reported that the Baton Rouge Police Department said it found evidence of a crime — as well as other profanity-laced unprofessional conduct — when it reviewed body camera footage from four other incidents involving Salamoni. All four of those incidents occurred in June 2016.
On March 30, Police Chief Murphy Paul fired Salamoni and suspended Officer Howie Lake II who also struggled with Sterling but didn’t fire his weapon that night.
Salamoni and the other officer, Howie Lake II, both appealed their discipline earlier this month. Salamoni is asking a civil service board to reinstate him.
Brant Mayer, one of Salamoni’s lawyers, said his client received the summons on April 27. Mayer said he believes police officials are using the battery case to influence Salamoni’s appeal. He said the police department apparently has known about the body camera video of the incident for nearly two years.
“Blane just wants to clear his name,” Mayer told The Associated Press. “This is just one more thing Blane has to deal with before he puts this chapter behind him.”
Salamoni spoke to his supervisor about the incident immediately after it happened, Mayer said.
“There were no issues at that point,” he added.
In the battery case, Salamoni was responding to a domestic incident on June 10, 2016, when he and two other officers chased down and arrested a man. Salamoni handcuffed the man after a brief struggle, the department says. Body camera video shows the man was on the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back when Salamoni slapped him in the head, the department says.
A conviction for simple battery is punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
BRPD Chief Paul fired Salamoni on March 30, less than a week after state Attorney General Jeff Landry ruled out state criminal charges. DOJ officials announced last May that it wouldn’t pursue federal criminal charges against either officer.
Paul said he fired Salamoni for violating department policies on use of force and “command of temper.” He suspended Lake three days for violating only the latter policy.
After serving his three-day suspension, Officer Howie Lake is back at work in the BRPD and has appealed his suspension to have it removed from his record,
Several lawsuits filed on behalf of the children of Alton Sterling and the owner of Triple S Food Mart against the Baton Rouge Police Department and the City of Baton Rouge are pending.
This article originally published in the May 7, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
