Louisiana’s top cop caught speeding but avoids a ticket

Lucas2022-07-10

Louisiana State Police Superintendent Col. Lamar Davis speaks about the agency’s release of a video involving the death of Ronald Greene, during a news conference Friday, May 21, 2021 in Baton Red, Louisiana. Photo by Melinda Deslatte /AP Photo

BATON ROUGE, La. – The Louisiana State Police Superintendent admits he was pulled over for speeding in an unmarked work vehicle, but did not receive a ticket from one of his own officers.

Colonel Lamar Davis told WAFB-TV in an interview Friday that he accepted responsibility but could not remember how fast he was driving. A state trooper shot Davis June 28 on the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge along Interstate 10 west of Baton Rouge.

« I was just wrong in that situation, » Davis said. « There’s no excuse for this other than that I have to slow my butt down. »

Louisiana State Police Public Affairs Chief Capt. Nick Manale said the trooper « used his discretion and did not issue a citation. » Manale said the soldier did not take notes on how fast Davis was driving in the area where the speed limit was 60 mph (96 km/h).

WAFB requested a copy of the soldier’s body camera footage through a public records request. On Thursday, the Louisiana State Police released the soldier’s body camera footage and a clip of the soldier’s dash cam video.

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The body camera footage cuts out as soon as the soldier exits his vehicle and acknowledges that he has arrested his boss.

« Well, I will be, » the soldier said just before the video ended.

The dash cam footage, which has no sound, shows the soldier and Davis talking for a few seconds between their two vehicles before the two shake hands. Within 30 seconds of first exiting his vehicle, Davis backed inside his vehicle and prepared to leave.

During Friday’s interview, Davis told WAFB that the soldier’s actions were within Louisiana State Police policy.

“I know everyone wants to see everything we do. But we don’t put body cameras on doctors, lawyers or anyone else who interacts with the public,” Davis said. « I ask people to believe that we are doing the right thing for the right reasons. »

Davis became superintendent of the Louisiana State Police on October 30, 2020.

The US Department of Justice announced last month it was opening a civil rights investigation into the Louisiana State Police amid evidence that the agency has a habit of looking the other way in the face of crossings. smoking of mostly black men, including the 2019 fatal arrest of Ronald Greene.

The federal ‘pattern or practice’ investigation followed an Associated Press investigation that found Greene’s arrest was among at least a dozen cases over the past decade in which state troopers or their bosses ignored or covered up evidence of beatings, deflected blame, and obstructed efforts. to eradicate misconduct.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, who oversees the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said Davis and Gov. John Bel Edwards pledged to cooperate with the investigation.