BRPD officer in Sterling case appeals three-day suspension
23rd April 2018 · 0 Comments
BRPD Officer Howie Lake II, the cop who is back at work after being handed a three–day suspension for his role in the officer-involved killing of Alton Sterling on July 5, 2016, is appealing that suspension, The Associated Press reported.
After the U.S. Department of Justice and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry refused to charge Lake and Officer Blane Salamoni in the fatal shooting of Sterling, a 37-year-old father of five, BRPD Chief Murphy Paul suspended Lake for three days late last month.
Officer Salamoni, who fired six shots into Sterling’s body and was caught on body cam footage cussing at Sterling as he lay on the ground bleeding to death, was terminated on March 30.
Lake was allowed to return to work earlier this month.
In a petition filed April 12, an attorney for Officer Lake asked a civil service board to rescind his three-day suspension from the Baton Rouge Police Department.
Sterling was selling mixtape CDs outside the Triple S Food Mart in south Baton Rouge when he was approached by Officers Lake and Salamoni on July 5, 2016. Two civilians captured the incident on their cell phones and uploaded them to social media, where they went viral.
The Sterling incident and the officer-involved killing of Philando Castille two days later near Minneapolis, Minn. led to nationwide protests and ultimately to the killing of three law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge and five cops in Dallas, Texas.
Earlier this month, Officer Salamoni, who reportedly called being fired the “worst day” of his life, separately appealed his firing. Both officers’ petitions claim their discipline was excessive and “was not made in good faith.”
The two officers, both of whom are white, had been on paid administrative leave since the shooting, The Associated Press reported.
BRPD Chief Murphy Paul said he fired Salamoni for violating department policies on use of force and “command of temper.” He suspended Lake for violating only the latter policy.
Officer Salamoni refused to answer any of the questions asked by BRPD investigators during the department’s investigation of the incident but Lake cooperated with the investigation.
Officer Lake reportedly used a Taser twice on Alton Sterling before the officers wrestled him to the ground in the parking lot outside the Triple S Food Mart. During the struggle on the ground, Salamoni shot Sterling six times.
Salamoni told an Internal Affairs investigator that he saw Sterling reach for and hold a gun in his pants pocket right before he shot him. The officers recovered a loaded revolver from Sterling’s pocket.
Body camera footage captured Salamoni screaming profanities at Sterling, pointing a gun at his head and threatening to shoot him before they tussled. Lake called Sterling a “stupid (expletive) idiot” after the shooting, the police chief said in a disciplinary letter.
Paul announced the disciplinary action taken against Salamoni and Lake on March 30, just three days after state AG Jeff Landry said he would not file criminal charges against the officers.
Landry inherited the case on May 2017 after East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore recused himself from the case because of ties to one of the officers.
After a 10-month investigation, the state AG’s Office announced that it would not file charges against Salamoni and Lake.
That set the stage for BRPD Chief Murphy Paul’s decision to fire Salamoni and suspend Lake after a three-day probe of the fatal shooting. On the same day that he announced the disciplinary action that the officers would face, Paul released body cam footage of the incident to the public for the first time, prompting the NAACP to call for the state Attorney General’s Office to appoint a special prosecutor to look into the shooting.
With several federal lawsuits looming and other loose ends, the case is far from over, The Associated Press reported.
This article originally published in the April 23, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
