Law enforcement agencies are prepared for the possibility that Attorney General Jeff Landry might make his long-awaited decision Tuesday morning in the case of the two Baton Rouge Police officers involved in the 2016 fatal shooting of Alton Sterling, which set off weeks of peaceful but heated protests in Baton Rouge.
Several Baton Rouge news outlets are reporting a decision likely will be announced tomorrow.
Landry’s office and the Louisiana State Police have been investigating officers Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II for possible violations of state criminal law since last May, when the U.S. Justice Department announced it would not prosecute the officers with violating Sterling’s civil rights.
At the time, then-acting U.S. Attorney Corey Amundson said the DOJ’s 10-month investigation uncovered troubling evidence that potentially pointed to violations of state law but was insufficient to meet the high burden of proof of a federal civil rights violation.
Sterling was killed outside the Triple S Food Mart in the early morning hours of July 5.
It is unclear whether he will also release at that time police body camera tapes of the shooting death. Community groups and the NAACP have demanded that the tapes be released so the public can see what happened the night Sterling was killed.
A spokesman for the Baton Rouge Police Department referred all requests for comment to Landry’s office, but says if and when the decision is announced, the agency will be ready to respond.
The decision has been anticipated for the past several weeks.
