Another JPSO deputy-involved shooting in N.O. under investigation
29th March 2016 · 0 Comments
In the midst of a DOJ and NOPD Public Integrity Bureau investigation of a Feb. 8 fatal shooting that involved two Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies, the NOPD said last week that it is now investigating a shooting involving JPSO deputies that took place on Sunday morning, March 20, in the Crescent City.
Jefferson Parish sheriff’s deputies chasing an escaped prisoner opened fire both inside and outside of University Medical Center Sunday morning, March 20, before the NOPD was able to apprehend the suspect, police said.
According to NOPD spokesman Tyler Gamble, around 8:20 a.m. Sunday, two uniformed JPSO deputies were guarding 26-year-old Domonique Battle inside University Medical Center when the prisoner somehow escaped. Police said Battle was being treated for ingesting heroin.
Authorities said Battle reportedly ran from a hospital room and escaped down a stairwell, where deputies followed and opened fire. The deputies chased him outside of the hospital, where police said they shot at him again, and pursued him down Canal Street, Gamble said.
According to WWL News, a citizen then called the NOPD to report that a prisoner was attempting to get inside of her vehicle. NOPD responded and apprehended the suspect near the intersection of North Miro and Iberville streets.
Gamble said the initial investigation appears to show the shots came from one or both of the deputies’ weapons. Police also added at some point, Battle took a deputy’s Taser. It was found in the area where officers arrested him, they said.
Following police policy, the NOPD Force Investigation Team is investigating the incident and the Independent Police Monitor and the federal consent decree monitors have been notified, Gamble said.
A debate has been brewing over the past few months about some of the differences between the way the NOPD and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office conduct business and how those differences impact the people of New Orleans when they come face to face with JP sheriff’s deputies.
In the wake of the Feb. 8 JPSO-involved shooting that took the life of 22-year-old Eric Harris, Nola.com published an article that highlighted some of the differences in NOPD and JPSO policies regarding pursuits, use of force and firing at vehicles.
According to the article, dated March 13, the JPSO’s policy regarding firing at vehicles is less restrictive than that of the NOPD.
“NOPD’s use-of-force policy says officers cannot fire on a moving vehicle when the only deadly threat is the driver moving the car in their direction,” the article states. “The policy requires the driver or others in the car to threaten the officers in an additional way, such as pointing or firing a gun.
“JPSO’s policies, which were the ones in effect in Harris’ chase, are less restrictive. The Sheriff’s Office use-of-force policies says deputies can’t fire on a moving vehicle unless doing so is necessary for self-defense against deadly force from the car’s occupants. But the policy does not expressly require that the occupants of the car perform a second aggressive action other than driving the car toward the officers.”
Essentially, NOPD officers would not have been able to employ deadly force in dealing with Eric Harris, who did not fire a weapon at the JP sheriff’s deputies who fatally shot him.
Rafael Goyeneche, exec. director of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, told Nola.com that the NOPD’s policy in this case is flawed, not that of the JPSO.
“Any time a car contacts a human body, the car is going to win,” Goyeneche said. “You are dealing with a situation that is split-second.”
However, Michael Avery, a professor emeritus at Suffolk University’s Law School and author of Police Misconduct: Law and Litigation, disagreed. “It’s just as easy to get out of the way as it is to shoot at them,” Avery told Nola.com.
NOPD spokesman Tyler Gamble told Nola.com that the NOPD’s more restrictive policy is a result of the federal consent decree and reflects best practices recommended and supported bu the NOPD consent-decree monitoring team and the U.S. Department of Justice.
“In the interest of standardizing law enforcement policies and practices and protecting the constitutional rights of people in New Orleans, the City of New Orleans and the NOPD need to make sure that other law enforcement agencies that assist the NOPD as it tries to build up its numbers are on the same page so that the residents’ rights aren’t violated even while the NOPD is in the midst of a federal consent decree,” the Rev. Raymond Brown, a community activist and president of National Action Now, told The Louisiana Weekly. “What good is it to improve public safety if it requires the City and the NOPD to look the other way as other law enforcement agencies trample on the constitutional rights of New Orleanians?”
This article originally published in the March 28, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
