B.R. Police Chief apologizes for hiring Alton Sterling’s killer

12th August 2019   ·   0 Comments

(Defender News Service) — In what could only be described as a grievous insult on top of deadly injury, the Baton Rouge police chief apologized for hiring the officer who killed Alton Sterling more than three years ago.

Police Chief Murphy Paul apologized, saying in part, “We are sorry Baton Rouge. I want to apologize to the family of Alton Sterling and also to his kids,” Chief Paul said.

“We’re sorry because he should have never been hired,” Paul continued. “And while we obviously cannot change the past, it is clear that we must change the future, and I sincerely apologize for the actions of the past and the role that our profession has played in building barriers in communities of color in Baton Rouge.”

Sterling lost his life on July 5, 2016, when police confronted him in a parking lot for selling DVDs outside a convenience store.

Paul joined the department in January 2018. The two officers involved in Sterling’s death — Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II — were cleared of any criminal charges by the state in March 2018, but Salamoni was fired days later.

Salamoni appealed his termination, however; CNN reports that the department reached a resolution with him that precludes him from returning to the department.

Mayor Sharon Weston Broome said Salamoni will not receive monetary compensation in the resolution. She released the following statement, per WAFB, which read in part:

“Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul announced last week he has reached a resolution with the attorneys for former officer Blane Salamoni concerning his departure from the department. This has been a long time coming and it highlights my efforts to reform the Baton Rouge Police Department.

First, let me say I stand behind our officers, men and women who put their lives on the line every day to serve and protect our citizens. However, our department no longer has room for individuals who can’t live up to its high standards or have shown a pattern of unprofessional behavior.

Public servants are and should be held to a higher standard, no one is exempt. Since taking office I have directed the department to implement national best practices and standards for 21st Century Policing.”

Lee Hamilton, an attorney for the Baton Rouge PD says that (surprise!) Salamoni had a history of using excessive force, saying, “What became apparent from all the evidence presented to the chief was that Mr. Salamoni had a propensity for acting outside of the standards established by the BRPD for command of temper and use of force,” reports CNN.

CNN notes:

Hamilton said Salamoni regularly shouted profanities and abused individuals with unnecessary uses of force, as he did in the Sterling incident. Salamoni’s ill temperament caused “blow ups” with other officers, including one with a ranking officer, Hamilton said. Another officer told their superior that if something weren’t done about Salamoni, he could kill somebody, according to Hamilton.

Hamilton also said that Salamoni had previously been arrested for his involvement in a physical altercation or domestic abuse incident prior to joining the police, which would have kept him from being accepted to the force.

Salamoni’s attorney, John McLindon, said Salamoni has the option to be a police officer elsewhere if he chooses.

This article originally published in the August 12, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.