SPLC files suit against JPSO for records on officer-involved injuries
3rd May 2021 · 0 Comments
By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer
On April 19, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) announced it filed suit against the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office (JPSO) and said it will ask a judge to compel Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto to respond to a public records request the SPLC made seeking information in the death of Modesto Reyes on May 27 of last year.
The SPLC made the public records request in summer 2020 while searching for data on officer-involved injuries and internal affairs records regarding citizen complaints against officers from 2010 to 2020.
According to the lawsuit, the JPSO initially refused the request in its entirety. But after a series of meetings between the two parties, the JPSO agreed to disclose roughly 65 responsive records from the JPSO’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) and one internal affairs record. JPSO refused to disclose any additional internal affairs records.
The JPSO only permitted the SPLC to inspect the records in person or obtain copies at a cost of $2,305. Kathryn Casteel, investigative reporter for the SPLC and plaintiff in the lawsuit, now seeks the right to copy and reproduce the records at the SPLC’s own expense and access the withheld internal affairs documents, a right provided by Louisiana state law La. R.S. 44:31(B)(1).
“There’s not much you can do with a public record if you’re only allowed to look at it on someone else’s computer,” said SPLC staff attorney Conor Gaffney.
In an article Casteel wrote on the subject, she stated, “The nonprofit began investigating misconduct by JPSO deputies after Reyes’s death and found at least 30 federal civil lawsuits filed against the department since 2010; many for excessive force and some for illegal use of deadly force or wrongful death. We know these findings are not all inclusive. They don’t include incidents that occurred during this time that did not result in federal civil lawsuits. We needed more information if we wanted a fuller picture.”
Casteel told The Louisiana Weekly the internal affairs records and citizen complaints are important because they can show incidents that might not appear in lawsuit filings.
“There are, of course, people who don’t have the means to sue who would show up in citizens’ complaints and internal affairs documents,” Casteel said.
Gaffney added that the release of these documents is not only in the community’s interest, but the JPSO’s interest as well. Greater transparency would help restore public trust in law enforcement after a number of recent high-profile cases of police-involved killings like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
“Releasing the records would demonstrate to the community that they are taking citizens’ complaints seriously and investigating them thoroughly,” Gaffney said.
Reyes was shot on May 27, 2020. Sheriff Lopinto told WWL that Reyes tripped and fell while trying to escape from a traffic stop in Marrero. Two deputies gave chase and said Reyes turned over on his back and pointed a gun at them.
An independent autopsy by the Louisiana Forensic Center, done at the request of Reyes’ family, listed the cause of death as two gunshots to the back.
JPSO deputies do not wear body cameras, but video is taken from a deputy’s taser whenever it is removed from its holster. WWL reported the video showed a man face down on the ground before turning over with what appeared to be a gun in each hand before shots were fired.
The Reyes family was not allowed to see the video. A June statement from the family’s attorneys Ronald Haley, Dedrick Moore, and Christopher Murrell read, “The Reyes family only learned (of) the footage after news articles were posted online…On behalf of the Reyes family, we question why did one of the two deputies make the decision to use non-lethal force in his apprehension of Reyes and the other decide to use lethal force?”
Sheriff Lopinto told WWL, “In this case, obviously someone lost their life. I didn’t want it to happen. My deputy didn’t want it to happen. I have no doubt about that.”
Captain Jason Rivarde of the JPSO’s Public Affairs Division responded to The Louisiana Weekly’s request for comment by stating that the JPSO does not comment on pending litigation.
The full lawsuit can be read online at https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/20210416_petition_for_writ_of_mandamus_stamped_no_exhibits.pdf.
This article originally published in the May 3, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
