Gov. John Bel Edwards and Mayor Sharon Weston Broome urged the community this afternoon to engage in peaceful, lawful protests in the days to come as they express frustration over the U.S. Department of Justice’s decision not to bring federal charges against the Baton Rouge police officers involved in the July 2016 shooting of Alton Sterling.
“We all have the rights to give voice to our frustration,” Edwards said. “But no one has the right to engage in unlawful behavior, particularly violent behavior … because that endangers the life of everyone involved.”
The comments from Edwards and Broome came at a joint press conference at City Hall shortly after the DOJ’s official announcement that it will not prosecute BRPD officers Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II with violating Sterling’s civil rights.
That announcement was anticlimactic, coming nearly 24 hours after sources in Washington, D.C., leaked to The Washington Post that no federal charges would be forthcoming.
Still, Acting U.S Attorney Corey Amundson, who made the announcement on behalf of the feds at a 1 p.m. press briefing at the Russell B. Long Federal Courthouse, made clear that the nearly year-long investigation uncovered troubling evidence that may point to violations of state law but was insufficient to meet the high burden of proof of a federal civil rights violation.
“We conferred with two use-of-force experts, nationally recognized in their field,” said Amundson, who was flanked by officials from the DOJ in Washington and the FBI office in New Orleans. “Both experts critiqued aspects of the officers’ techniques and approach, but both said the officers did not act unreasonably … (therefore) it was the unanimous decision of all the prosecutors that we didn’t have sufficient evidence that either officer violated federal criminal civil rights laws.”
Moments after Amundson concluded his 20-minute briefing, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry issued a statement saying he will turn over all available evidence to Louisiana State Police to investigate the officers on possible violations of state criminal law. In the statement, he said he will appoint a prosecutor from his office to assist in the probe.
“Once the LSP and our assigned prosecutor have reviewed the materials generated by the federal government’s investigation and have conducted any further investigation necessary my office will meet with them to review their findings, evaluate the evidence, and make the appropriate prosecutorial decision,” the statement said.
Edwards, who has found himself at political odds with Landry over the past year, said he is confident in the way the AG has decided to handle the investigation.
Earlier today, community group Together Baton Rouge held a meeting with local activists to discuss the long-awaited decision and how best to move the city forward. At the lunch meeting, the Rev. Lee Wesley urged Broome to demand the release of body camera video from the officers that is expected to show what happened outside the Triple S Food Mart in the early morning hours of July 5 last year.
At the City Hall press conference, Broome said she has not seen the tapes and does not expect to receive them. Edwards followed up on her comments, saying he “cannot imagine any of this is going to come forward until after the state attorney general has completed his investigation and made his decision one way or the other.”
Broome and Edwards also reiterated their disappointment that after months of planning and consultation with federal officials, information of the decision was leaked to the national media Tuesday before anyone in Baton Rouge was informed.
“I do hope there will be some investigation to find out” how that information was leaked, Edwards said. “It was disrespectful to the family and it also made it harder … to maintain public safety.”
—Stephanie Riegel
