Whoa! I saw the "NAACP wants probe in shooting" headline and thought I was going to get blamed again... So far, I've only shot white people!
Posted on 02/22/2006 6:23:57 AM PST by Ellesu
The Baton Rouge chapter of the NAACP wants the U.S. Justice Department to conduct an independent investigation into the death of George Temple II, killed by a witness during a scuffle with a Baton Rouge police officer Friday.
The civil rights organization also wants the Mayor-President’s Office to form a citizens’ review board to deal with claims of police misconduct and brutality.
“We are outraged in the African-American community that a traffic violation could escalate to the killing of a young businessman,” Kwame Asanté, president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said Tuesday.
“The actions of an off-duty officer, a trained professional, to allow a traffic stop, where his life was not initially threatened, to become a situation where a young man loses his life in a physical altercation opens the Baton Rouge Police Department to many questions, that the community wants answers to,” Asanté said.
Authorities have said that Temple, 24, fought with 32-year-old Officer Brian Harrison after receiving a traffic ticket. Harrison, who was off-duty and escorting a funeral procession, stopped Temple. The witness, Perry Stephens, came to Harrison’s aid after hearing Harrison plead for help.
Asanté said that he and other residents want to know more.
He said he will formally ask for the establishment of a review board today before the 4 p.m. Metro Council meeting. During the meeting, he said members of the NAACP will sit in the audience and hold signs that read “Review Board Needed.”
Mayor-President Kip Holden could not be reached for comment after a visit to his office and phone messages left with his office and cell phone.
Police Chief Jeff LeDuff declined comment. Asanté said LeDuff called him Tuesday to meet about the issue but that they have not met.
Since Temple was shot six times and killed in the parking lot of the AutoZone, 9007 Greenwell Springs Road at Joor Road, the local NAACP chapter has received 15 calls from residents, Asanté said.
Among other things, Asanté said, people want to know what led to the fight between Temple and Harrison, and why Stephens wasn’t arrested for shooting Temple five times with a .45-caliber handgun.
Col. Greg Phares, chief criminal deputy with the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office, said Monday that the shooting investigation will be sent to the District Attorney’s Office when complete and that it would be up to him to file any charges.
Phares also said Monday that information about how the fight between Harrison and Temple began might be more clear after investigators had interviewed Harrison.
Deputy Fred Raiford, a Sheriff’s Office spokesman, said Tuesday that the office set up an interview with Harrison late Tuesday afternoon.
Louisiana State Police declined Tuesday to release Stephens’ application for a concealed handgun. However, Trooper Johnnie Brown, a State Police spokesman, said the gun used in the shooting wouldn’t be considered concealed since Stephens went to his car to retrieve it.
Louisiana law allows residents to keep handguns in their homes or cars without a permit, as long as felony convictions or other legal problems don’t bar them from possessing one.
According to records at the parish Clerk of Court’s Office, Stephens, 56, does not have a criminal background.
Temple was on probation at the time of his death for simple battery and simple damage to property. He was arrested for aggravated burglary, aggravated assault and false imprisonment on March 4, 2004, but no charges were filed.
The National Association for the Advancement of CRIMINALS can go pound sand.
Is this slang for "drug dealer"?
Stephens needs a MEDAL!
(And maybe we could buy him another box of say 200 gr. hollow-points...)
Whoa! I saw the "NAACP wants probe in shooting" headline and thought I was going to get blamed again... So far, I've only shot white people!
Would false imprisonment = kidnapping?
Here's a link to an earlier thread about this shooting.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1582403/posts
Some of what was unstated should be fairly obvious from what WAS stated:
e.g., since the off-duty officer was doing funeral escort, he was no doubt in uniform, either in a cruiser or on a police motorcycle (possibly owned by him - I don't know how things are done in BR)
Here's what you and your "community" should know, Mr. Asante:
First, try teaching your young men to obey the lawful orders given by the police - it'll enormously increase their odds of becoming old men, and doing so in the neighborhood rather than in the slammer.
Additional lessons are available after you've mastered the first one.
Thanks for the link.
One fact was never debated on the other thread. The guy complied when the officer somehow ordered him to pull over. That is not irrational behaviour.
Everything after that makes incomplete sense.
I lived there. I experienced the police force ;-) I was younger then.
Usually done by Motorcycle Cops, IIRC. They 'zoom' from intersection to intersection.
The other article was very informative.
I suppose, and this is just for discussion's sake, that if the guy had something highly illegal on him (e.g. a pocket full of crack cocaine), he might try to get away. But, everything should come out when they interview the officer.
rumor is he tried to bribe the officer to get out of the ticket, officer tried to arrest him, fight started.
If that rumor's true, this guy is the next Darwin Awards candidate.
and...
“We are outraged in the African-American community that a traffic violation could escalate to the killing of a young businessman,” Kwame Asanté, president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said Tuesday.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Businessman" -- yeah...riiiiight...
What "business"? Dope peddling? If it took six hits (including five from a .45) to stop this "parolee businessman", what do toxicology tests reveal as to what fueled his tenacious assault?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.