Former LSP Troopers Dakota DeMoss (left) and George Harper (right).
On September 30, 2021, Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) member Jared Riecke wasted no time flat making a motion to deny any consolidation of appeal hearings for LSP Troopers George Harper and Dakota DeMoss.
Subscribers who have been with Sound Off Louisiana for a few months may recall that we were the first to expose texts of Harper and DeMoss bragging of a severe beating inflicted upon a black motorist from Mississippi, Antonio Harris. Our feature was soon linked by numerous national and international publications. Here are the damning texts from that feature:
The troopers then escorted Harris to one of their marked police vehicles. As they placed Harris in the back seat, Tpr. Harper threatened him by saying, “stupid motherfucker, I hope you act up when we get to the fucking jail. I am going to punish you, dumb bitch. What the fuck is wrong with you, stupid motherfucker. ”
Jacob Brown “How was his attitude at the jail?”
George Harper “Complete silence”
Jacob Brown “Lmao”
Dakota DeMoss “lol he was still digesting that ass whoop in”
Jacob Brown “its gonna take him a couple days … ”
Jacob Brown “he gonna be sore tomorrow for sure”
Jacob Brown “BET he wont run from a full grown bear again”
Dakota DeMoss “Bet he don’t even cross into LA anymore”
George Harper “GRIZZLY Nah he gonna spread the word that’s for damn sure”
Jacob Brown “lmao”
Dakota DeMoss “he’s gonna have nightmares for a long time”
Jacob Brown “lmao…..warms my heart knowing we could educate that young man”
Dakota DeMoss “lolol”
Larry Shappley “haha”
Notwithstanding Riecke’s laser-fast motion to deny consolidating the troopers’ appeals on September 30, 2021 due to “too many moving parts,” the LSPC unceremoniously voted unanimously to consolidate those appeals at its meeting of Thursday, February 10, 2022. Further, perhaps expecting interest in the hearings to be off the charts, the LSPC is launching an initiative to live stream all meetings going forward beginning with those appeal hearings, which have been set for Monday, March 14, 2022 at 9:30 a.m. with the hearings expected to carry over to the next day, Tuesday, March 15, 2022. Here’s a brief video of the LSPC’s action of today:
2/10/22 LSPC meeting in which the appeals of DeMoss and Harper are consolidated and set for hearing on March 14-15, 2022.
Live stream notwithstanding, we did hear Commission Member Riecke mention to Executive Director Hannaman that it may be a good idea to procure a larger venue because of the expected interest in these appeals. We agree with Commissioner Riecke in that regard. The LSPC may wish to follow the path of the LSP Retirement Board when the infamous “Edmonson Amendment” was hot and heavy. That meeting was moved to the LASERS conference room. Considering the interest in these appeals and the upcoming appeal for Carl Cavalier, even that venue may not be large enough to accommodate the crowd of parties involved, other interested parties, and media outlets likely to cover those appeals.
The LSPC meeting was one of the shortest on record, so we’re going to go ahead and just embed a video of the entire meeting since it lasted all of about 16 minutes. Here it is:
2/10/22 LSPC meeting in its entirety.
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