A group text message between Louisana State Police troopers shows several of the force’s troopers joked about beating a Black man who took them on a high-speed chase last year.
According to KTLA, court filings referenced text exchanges that said the “whoopin” would give him “nightmares for a long time.”
“He gonna be sore tomorrow for sure,” Trooper Jacob Brown. The former trooper was charged in the case and resigned on Wednesday. Brown texted three of his co-workers, “Warms my heart knowing we could educate that young man.”
Antonio Harris, 29, was arrested in May and beaten by troopers, although he “immediately surrendered.” Harris’ incident is very similar to the State Police pursuit that took place earlier last year, which ended in the still-unexplained death of Ronald Greene, another Black motorist.
Bodycam footage of Greene’s death has still not been released and remains the subject of a federal civil rights investigation, the outlet reported.
The day of Brown’s incident, he was pulled over for a minor traffic violation in Richland Parish, but he re-entered his car and fled the scene.
He also faces charges in two other excessive-force cases.
Brown’s chase spanned 29 miles and reached high speeds of 150 mph. It ended when deputy sheriffs deployed a “tire deflation device” that caused Harris’s car to go into a ditch.
The responding officers—notably, white—attacked him even though he surrendered with his “face down (prone) on the ground and extended his arms away from his body and his legs spread apart.”
Dakota DeMoss, the first trooper to arrive, “delivered a knee stroke” to Harris and slapped him in the face with an open palm. He then turned off his body camera, court records indicated.
George Harper, another responding trooper, used his fist several times to punch Harris in the head. He also threatened to “punish” him while Brown pulled his hair.
“At no time did Harris resist arrest,” the State Police internal investigation concluded.
The troopers produced “wholly untrue” reports on the matter, saying that Harris resisted and continued to flee the scene. They also tried to conceal bodycam footage from investigators.
There were 14 text exchanges between them, which consisted of lol’s and haha’s.
“BET he wont run from a full grown bear again,” Brown wrote.
“Bet he don’t even cross into LA anymore,” DeMoss responded, who earlier jeered that Harris was “still digesting that ass whoopin.”
“He gonna spread the word that’s for damn sure,” Harper texted back.
DeMoss and Harper have been charged and placed on administrative leave. Initially, DeMoss received only counseling for his involvement in the beating. He was admonished for turning his FM radio up “extremely loud” amid the chase and switching stations “in order to find the right song.”
This is America.
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