Louisiana State Police Trooper Scott Lopez’s son, Benjamin Cole, smiles at farmer Billy Broussard and gives him a hand signal (purported to be the symbol for “loser”) as he states, “hope you got a good picture.” Lopez engaged in this act mere minutes after he alleges Broussard committed “simple assault” against him.
We want to once again express sincere appreciation to Ms. Karen Berthelot for her dedication on fulfilling a public records request we’ve had outstanding for quite some time. That request has been for the all-important videos taken by Benjamin Cole Lopez, son of LSP Trooper Scott Lopez, on April 25, 2022, and upon which the entire “case” against farmer Billy Broussard hinged.
Ms. Berthelot alerted us yesterday, July 19, 2022, that the videos were ready for pickup on a DVD, and we had that DVD in our hands by late yesterday evening.
We will point out that they are the same videos which St. Martin Parish Sheriff Deputy Baily Romero easily had Benjamin Cole Lopez text to him within seconds on April 25, 2022. That’s the date Lopez sought to pursue Broussard for “simple assault,” and, as per his father, LSP Trooper Scott Lopez’s guidance, “at a minimum, obstruction of public roadway.”
The St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office’s attorney took a rather protracted period to formally approve the release of the two videos: one of which is 15 seconds in length, and the other of which is three seconds in length.
We can only assume that, with that attorney knowing that St. Martin Parish District Attorney Bo Duhe’ declined to prosecute the charge, there simply was no legal way to block release of the videos since they are clearly public record and no prosecutorial efforts remain.
The DVD we obtained contained the following: the 15-second video and the 3-second video, both taken by Lopez; the 9-second video taken by Broussard; and (5) still photos, two of which were derived from Lopez, and three which were derived from Broussard’s video.
We integrated the videos from the public records response and the associated still photos into key segments of St. Martin Parish Deputy Baily Romero’s body-cam video from April 25, 2022. Our goal being to create one seven-minute video outlining LSP Trooper Scott Lopez and his son, Benjamin Cole Lopez’s, allegations together with the video evidence they supplied to back up those allegations. Here is that seven-minute video:
4/25/22: Integration video of Lopez’s allegations and videos and still photos to back up those allegations.
We are going to make no commentary on the above video other than to say we had a number of attorneys and retired law enforcement officers who were baffled at how what’s depicted in the video above resulted in any judge signing an arrest warrant application.
As we’ve previously reported, the application was initially presented to Judge Lewis Pitman, whom we’re told is the “Senior Judge” for the District. When he declined to sign the application, Deputy Romero pulled it from Pitman and then presented the arrest warrant application to Judge Suzanne deMahy, who signed the application within minutes. It remains an open question as to whether added statements or material was submitted to Judge deMahy to cause her to pursue a very different action than that of Judge Pitman.
Because we believe that the probability of additional litigation over this matter is probable, however, we are going to refrain from making any additional commentary. Obviously, when and if the day arises where that litigation is reality, we will of course report on the content of any such litigation.
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What exactly are they calling simple assault?
Great question, and the answer is that there is none! We’ve posted everything the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office had! I think that is why the attorney for the Sheriff was reluctant to approve releasing it. I did indicate to him that he needed to either release it or state the Louisiana statute by which they were declining to release it. I also told him I’d consulted with an attorney to sue the Sheriff for failing to provide the record (and I did). It was approved for release soon thereafter!
Not supposed to have you phone videoing while driving… I didn’t see any assault.. a young Karen..
It is shocking that this guy is still a State Trooper. This type of blatant retaliation would not be tolerated in the other 49 states. Clearly the good ole boy network is still alive and well in St. Martin Parish. The Judge should be embarrassed. It is very unfortunate that good police officers across this nation are under attack for doing their job. And then you see shenanigans like this. It makes you wonder where the grownups are in State Police and why they are not taking action against what is clearly an abuse of the public trust.
Attached is a Sound Off with information that may answer a lot of your questions, about where this matter is in regards to being prosecuted by the DAs office.
https://www.soundoffla.com/breaux2/