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Baton Rouge Officers Will Not Be Charged in Alton Sterling’s Killing Baton Rouge Officers Will Not Be Charged in Alton Sterling’s Killing
(about 4 hours later)
A pair of white police officers in Baton Rouge, La., will not be prosecuted by the state authorities in a fatal shooting of a black man there almost two years ago. The decision brings another closely watched and widely scrutinized investigation of potential police misconduct to an end without charges. A pair of white police officers in Baton Rouge, La., will not be prosecuted by the state authorities in a fatal shooting of a black man there almost two years ago, the latest example of how rarely law enforcement officers are prosecuted for violence against suspects.
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry announced his conclusion at a news conference on Tuesday, almost 11 months after the United States Department of Justice declined to bring charges in the death of the man, Alton B. Sterling. The attorney general’s decision was widely expected, in part because officers are rarely charged in connection with on-duty shootings. The Louisiana attorney general, Jeff Landry, announced the decision at a news conference on Tuesday, almost 11 months after the Justice Department declined to bring charges in the death of the man, Alton B. Sterling. Mr. Landry’s decision was widely expected, in part because officers in numerous other cases across the country have been cleared of criminal liability for using deadly force against civilians in recent years.
In a separate written report that described the efforts by the officers to gain control of Mr. Sterling, as well as their belief that he was armed, Mr. Landry’s office said it had “concluded that the officers in question acted as reasonable officers under existing law and were justified in their use of force.” The Baton Rouge officers were called to the Triple S Food Mart on July 5, 2016, to respond to a report that a black man had brandished a gun and threatened someone. The officers and the man, Mr. Sterling, 37, ended up in a confrontation that left Mr. Sterling dead, prompted large protests in Baton Rouge, the Louisiana capital, and broadened the national debate about law enforcement tactics and the influence of race on American policing. It also set off a retaliatory incident in which a man shot and killed two Baton Rouge police officers and a deputy sheriff.
The decisions by Mr. Landry and by the Justice Department effectively end the threat of criminal prosecutions against Officers Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II. The officers were called to the Triple S Food Mart on July 5, 2016, to respond to a report that a black man in a red shirt had brandished a gun and threatened someone. The officers and the man, Mr. Sterling, ended up in a confrontation that left Mr. Sterling dead, prompted large protests in Baton Rouge, the Louisiana capital, and broadened the national debate about law enforcement tactics and the influence of race on American policing. The officers at the scene, Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II, face administrative punishment, including dismissal, as well as a lawsuit from the man’s family. On Tuesday, John S. McLindon, a lawyer for Mr. Salamoni, said he all but expected his client to be fired, and said he would likely appeal the decision. Mr. McLindon noted that the shooting had been determined to be justified by independent use of force experts, including two cited in the state and federal investigations.
In a widely seen cellphone video of the encounter between the officers and Mr. Sterling, 37, the officers hold Mr. Sterling down, and at one point someone can be heard saying, “He’s got a gun! Gun!” An officer immediately draws his weapon and, after some more shouting, what appear to be gunshots are heard. The camera points elsewhere, and there are more apparent gunshots. Officer Salamoni fired all of the rounds. “He did exactly what he was trained to do,” Mr. McLindon said.
When the camera’s lens returns to Mr. Sterling, who had been selling CDs, neither officer is atop him; instead, he lies on the ground, bleeding. A widely seen cellphone video of the encounter shows the officers holding down Mr. Sterling, who investigators said was armed and under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and at one point someone can be heard saying, “He’s got a gun! Gun!”
Another video of the shooting, filmed by the owner of the store, depicted the encounter from a different angle. That video showed one of the officers removing something from Mr. Sterling’s pocket. Witnesses later said they saw a handgun on the ground next to Mr. Sterling — the federal government said it was a loaded .38 caliber revolver — but his relatives said they were not aware that he owned a gun. An officer immediately draws his weapon and, after some more shouting, what appear to be gunshots are heard. The camera points elsewhere, and there are more apparent gunshots. Officer Salamoni fired all of the rounds.
Mr. Sterling had a long criminal history, including convictions for battery and illegal possession of a gun. David A. Harris, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, noted that even video footage in seemingly egregious police abuse cases may not be enough to sway juries, noting that jurors deadlocked in the murder case of Michael T. Slager, a white North Charleston, S.C., police officer who was recorded shooting an unarmed black man, Walter L. Scott, in the back. (Mr. Slager later pleaded guilty to a federal civil rights charge.)
The Justice Department, which said it could not meet the high legal standard required to charge a police officer with willfully violating someone’s civil rights, closed its inquiry last year. That decision was a significant disappointment to members of Mr. Sterling’s family and other critics of the police, who regarded the shooting as a murder. In a summary of its findings, the department said it had reviewed multiple videos of the encounter and interviewed both officers, who said Mr. Sterling had been resistant throughout the encounter. “The question is whether the force was excessive,” Professor Harris said, “and that brings in lots of other questions, like what were they fearing, what were they seeing, what did they know that we don’t know. And the Supreme Court has been very protective of the law enforcement position vis-à-vis the law.”
“Officer Salamoni reported that he saw the gun coming out and attempted to grab it, but Sterling jerked away and attempted to grab the gun again,” the Justice Department wrote last year. “Officer Salamoni then saw ‘silver’ and knew that he had seen a gun, so he began firing. Both officers reported that after the first three shots, they believed that Sterling was attempting to reach into his right pocket again, so Officer Salamoni fired three more times into Sterling’s back.” Philip Stinson, an associate professor in the criminal justice program at Bowling Green State University, has counted 85 nonfederal police officers since 2005 who have been arrested on murder or manslaughter charges related to an on-duty shooting in the United States. To date, he said, 32 of them have been convicted of a crime.
Some witnesses offered contradictory accounts, but the Justice Department said the evidence was “insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt” that the officers violated federal law, which requires that an officer act deliberately and not merely with negligence, poor judgment or error. Another case is now unfolding in Sacramento, Calif., where Stephon Clark, 22, an unarmed black man, was shot 20 times by the police in his grandmother’s backyard on March 18. The California attorney general, Xavier Becerra, announced on Tuesday that he would step in to oversee the investigation.
Yet L. Chris Stewart, a lawyer for Mr. Sterling’s family, said last year that Justice Department officials had informed them that the actions of the officers “were outrageous, were inappropriate, were not following procedure.” Another video of the shooting of Mr. Sterling, filmed by the owner of the store, depicted the encounter from a different angle. That video showed one of the officers removing something from Mr. Sterling’s pocket. Witnesses later said they saw a handgun on the ground next to Mr. Sterling — the federal government said it was a loaded .38 caliber revolver — but his relatives said they were not aware that he owned a gun.
Lawyers also said that Mr. Sterling’s relatives were shown enhanced video and audio clips revealing that Officer Salamoni had said to Mr. Sterling, “I’ll kill you, bitch,” or something like it, as he put a gun to Mr. Sterling’s head. “As with every criminal case, we must analyze the evidence, the law and the facts and then draw a conclusion,” Mr. Landry said at a news conference. “But we are always mindful of the human element. I know the Sterling family is hurting. I know that they do not agree with this decision.”
When the Justice Department ended its review, there were renewed protests in Baton Rouge, but they were relatively muted compared to those the previous summer. It then fell to Mr. Landry to determine whether the state would bring any charges. Indeed, minutes after Mr. Landry’s announcement, members of the family and their lawyers, who had met with him earlier in the morning, held their own event in which they denounced the attorney general’s decision.
In his announcement on Tuesday, Mr. Landry broadly echoed the Justice Department’s findings and defended the conduct of the officers, saying, for example, that their efforts to gain control of Mr. Sterling’s hands were “well-founded and reasonable under the circumstances and under Louisiana law.” He also said the officers were justified in their concern about whether Mr. Sterling was armed. “It takes courage to have political office, it takes courage to be a prosecutor, it takes courage to fight for justice,” said one lawyer, L. Chris Stewart. “And we didn’t see that in this situation.”
Mr. Landry noted that it was not his office’s role “to determine whether the Baton Rouge Police Department’s policy was followed, or if certain tactics or language was more appropriate than others.” Sandra Sterling, Mr. Sterling’s aunt, spoke at length from a wheelchair, criticizing the attorney general and the police. “Shame on him,” she said of Mr. Landry. She also repeatedly called out Officer Salamoni. “You took an oath to protect and serve, not to protect and kill,” she said.
Officers Salamoni and Lake have been on paid leave since the shooting. Many in Baton Rouge have accused the officers, particularly Officer Salamoni, of engaging Mr. Sterling in such a way that an ugly confrontation was inevitable. Lawyers for the family have said that Mr. Sterling’s relatives were shown enhanced video and audio clips revealing that Officer Salamoni had said to Mr. Sterling, “I’ll kill you, bitch,” or something like it, as he put a gun to Mr. Sterling’s head.
Before his announcement on Tuesday, Mr. Landry, a Republican former congressman who was elected attorney general in 2015, had said relatively little about the case. Soon after the shooting, he described it as “a tragic incident.” When the Justice Department ended its review, there were renewed protests in Baton Rouge, but they were relatively muted compared with those the previous summer. It then fell to Mr. Landry to determine whether the state would bring any charges.
As officials in Baton Rouge braced on Tuesday for more demonstrations, he adopted a similar tone. Mr. Landry, a Republican former congressman who was elected attorney general in 2015, noted that it was not his office’s role “to determine whether the Baton Rouge Police Department’s policy was followed, or if certain tactics or language was more appropriate than others.”
“As with every criminal case, we must analyze the evidence, the law and the facts and then draw a conclusion,” he said. “But we are always mindful of the human element. I know the Sterling family is hurting. I know that they do not agree with this decision.” Officers Salamoni and Lake have been on paid leave since the shooting. On Tuesday, Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul said the two officers would face administrative hearings later this week, asking the community to have “just a little more patience.”
Chief Paul was introduced, in his televised appearance, by Mayor Sharon Weston Broome, who chose him as chief late last year. Both the mayor and the chief are black, and Chief Paul has publicly shared a recollection of being subject to what he described as a dubious police stop when he was younger.
Ms. Weston Broome has previously said that she would like to see Officer Salamoni fired and Officer Lake disciplined, drawing a rebuke from the former chief, Carl Dabadie Jr., who said that any punishments must come after the officers were afforded due process.
On Tuesday, the mayor reminded residents of their right to protest, so long as it was peaceful.
As for the fate of the officers, she said, “We will now act swiftly and accordingly. I’m confident the chief will act expeditiously and fairly in his own investigation.”