In advance of the U.S. Justice Department’s announcement last May about whether to bring federal civil rights charges against the two Baton Rouge Police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling in 2016, downtown Baton Rouge was on edge.
The federal complex on Florida Street was ringed with barricades, and though most businesses remained open, many employees chose to work from home that day for fear of protests or riots that could get out of hand.
Today, as Louisiana Attorney Jeff Landry was preparing to announce whether he will bring state criminal charges against the two officers in the case, the atmosphere downtown was much different.
“It’s business as usual,” says Downtown Development District Executive Director Davis Rhorer. “We haven’t heard of any businesses closing.”
One exception to that is the attorney general’s office building, the Livingston Building just north of the State Capitol. It is closed today and employees were reportedly told not to come to work.
A quick survey of several major law firms and banks, offices and retailers, however, suggests few others are concerned about the reaction that might follow Landry’s scheduled 10 a.m. announcement.
“I think everyone is cognizant of what is happening and maybe building a little extra time into their schedules today,” says Bridgette Nieland at the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, which moved its headquarters last fall into the Chase South Tower building on Florida Street. “But hopefully everything will be very peaceful.”
The Louisiana Legislature, which is in the third week of the regular session, is also conducting its scheduled hearings and has “a very busy day with a ton of meetings,” according to Morgan Robertson in the communications office.
Law firms like Taylor Porter and coffee shops like Magpie Cafe were also among those open and conducting business as usual.
“It takes a lot to close us down,” says attorney Preston Castille, a partner and member of Taylor Porter’s executive committee.
Marketing and political consultant Clay Young, who has followed the Sterling case closely over the past two years, attributes the collective calm over the city this morning to several factors. One, though the city was rocked by weeks of protests in 2016, they never turned violent as they did following police shootings in other cities.
“I think people have a little more confidence that we won’t have the same type of activity that they did in other cities,” he says.
Also, there’s less suspense around the announcement Landry is expected to make today.
“Nobody thinks he’s going to bring charges against the officers,” Young says. “So everybody already feels like they know the outcome.”
Finally, Young does not believe audio tapes from the police body cameras that captured Sterling’s shooting will be released today. Those tapes are expected to be very incendiary and potentially incriminating for the at least one of the officers.
Young says assuming Landry does not bring charges against the officers, the tapes will be turned over to the Baton Rouge Police Department so Chief Murphy Paul—before being released to the public—can make a decision on whether to fire the officers.
