Sound Off Louisiana

U. S. Congressman Cleo Fields prepares to answer a question posed by Sound Off Louisiana’s Burns at the Baton Rouge Press Club meeting of Monday, July 28, 2025.

In today’s Sound Off Louisiana feature, we briefly update three (3) civil lawsuits entailing Louisiana State Police (LSP):

Kasha Domingue:

The case entailed Domingue shooting Clifton Dilley in the back and leaving him paralyzed from the age of 19.  Our site visitors may recall Domingue’s October 12, 2023 appearance before the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) in which she failed in her efforts to have her termination over the incident converted to a voluntary resignation.  Within the last several weeks, Dilley’s civil case was settled for $9 million.

Jacob Brown:

Jacob Brown, son for former LSP Chief of Staff Bob Brown, was indicted by a Grand Jury for alleged Federal Civil Rights violations in the beating of motorist Aaron Bowman; however, on August 2, 2023, Brown was acquitted of the charges against him by a Federal Petit Jury.  His acquittal led to this August 1, 2024 lawsuit by Brown against LSP seeking reimbursement for $210,000+ in legal fees.  From the lawsuit:

Mr. Brown successfully defended himself at the trial of that matter, resulting in his acquittal.  A criminal charge was also brought against Mr. Brown in the 5th Judicial District in another matter involving an incident which occurred while Mr. Brown was acting within the scope of his duties as a Trooper with LSP. The
State dismissed this charge. (1)  Following the resolution of these matters, counsel for Mr. Brown mailed correspondence to LSP requesting that, pursuant to LSA-R.S. 42:1442, Mr. Brown be reimbursed $210,813.40 for his attorney’s fees which he incurred in the defense of the aforementioned. LSP denied this request.

As seen above, LSA-R.S. 42:1442 sets forth certain conditions which, when met, require the governing authority who employed the officer at the time to reimburse the officer for his attorney’s fees. These conditions require: 1) That the alleged criminal act must have occurred when the law enforcement was acting in good faith in the performance or in further of the course and scope of his employment; and 2) That the prosecution was terminated by dismissal, acquittal, or prescription.  At all relevant times, Mr. Brown acted in good faith in the performance or in furtherance of the course and scope of his employment with LSP. Furthermore, the aforementioned criminal charges all resulted in acquittal or dismissal by the State.  Accordingly, Mr. Brown is entitled to reimbursement of the reasonable attorney’s fees he incurred pursuant to LSA-R.S. 42:1442.

(1) Two criminal matters against Mr. Brown also arose in the 4th JDC. Mr. Brown was never indicted on these charges, and the State dismissed both matters.

LSP answered the litigation on September 6, 2024.  From that filing:

FURTHER ANSWERING, Defendant, the State of Louisiana, through the Department of Public Safety & Corrections, Office of State Police, aver that Jacob Brown was not acting in good faith in the performance or in the furtherance of the course and scope of his employment as defined by law and the policies and procedures of the law enforcement agency and he is not entitled to the reimbursement of attorney fees and expenses under LSA- R.S. 42:1442.

We reached out both to LSP and to Brown’s attorney for comment as to where the matter may stand since it has been nearly a year since any filing was made into the public record.  LSP, through LSP Commander of Public Affairs, Captain Russell Graham, responded:  “Thank you for giving us the opportunity to respond. However, we cannot speak to any matters that are pending litigation.”  Brown’s attorney,  Russell A. Woodward, Jr., of Ruston, declined to make comment for this feature.

Ronald Greene:

U. S. Congressman Cleo Fields (D-Baton Rouge) was the guest speaker at the Baton Rouge Press Club meeting of Monday, July 28, 2025.  Sound Off Louisiana‘s Burns posed a question of Fields entailing his thoughts of the U. S. Justice Department issuing a Pattern and Practices report in the waning days of the Biden Administration (though Burns misspoke and said the “waning days of the Obama Administration”) and the Justice Department’s subsequent retraction of the report.

Fields opted to focus almost all of his response to the question on his efforts to convince Louisiana State Attorney General Liz Murrill to settle the civil lawsuit filed by the Greene family entailing Greene’s much-publicized arrest and in-custody death on or around May 9, 2019.  Here’s Burns’ question and Fields’ response:

7/28/25:  Fields responds to Burns’ question entailing the U. S. Justice Department’s release of a Patterns and Practices Report in the waning days of the Biden Administration and the subsequent full retraction of that report three months later.

The latest filing in the Greene civil case is this Case Management Order.  We are about to present a bit of an oversimplification of the Order in the following table, but the table will nevertheless provide a basic and broad guideline of the three (3) phases of discovery which have been ordered by the Court and the fact that a mandatory nonbinding mediation is to be conducted after each phase of discovery is completed:

As is evidenced by the Fields video above, he chose to alter the specific content of Burns’ question regarding his thoughts on the U. S. Justice Department’s issuance of the Pattern and Practices Report in early January only to retract the report in its entirety about three months later.  In other words, Fields avoided providing his thoughts on the two developments by altering Burns’ question to be if he “had any more information,” which is not what Burns asked.

Fields’ avoidance of providing his thoughts on the U. S. Justice Department’s actions notwithstanding, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry certainly didn’t mince his words about his thoughts on the contents of the report.  From the above linked Domingue article:

Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, criticized the report as an attempt “to diminish the service and exceptionality of” the state police. The federal probe began in 2022 amid fallout from the in-custody death of Ronald Greene, who was beaten, tased and dragged on a rural road in northern Louisiana.

The “exceptionality of” the state police.  What a statement in light of all of the problematic LSP actions on which we’ve reported in the ten (10) years of this blog’s existence!

Lastly, let us offer our opinion on Fields’ chances of success in his attempts to convince Murrill to settle the Greene litigation.  Our own thoughts are that hell will freeze over before that happens!  Gov. Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill are both staunchly pro-law-enforcement to such a degree that they will not even acknowledge obvious serious shortcomings of LSP.  Neither Landry nor Murrill would ever be willing to accept the political blowback either of them would receive from the law enforcement community in Louisiana were they to settle the litigation.  Those are our own sentiments on the matter, but only time will tell whether we’re right or not.

Obviously, if Plaintiff Tayla Greene wishes to settle for a pittance, Murrill would agree to that, but we see that potential to be equally likely as hell freezing over first.  In short, we just don’t see the ingredients being present for a successful resolution of this matter short of a jury trial.

It will likely take almost two years (perhaps more) judging by the Order referenced in this feature to find out if any settlement is ever reached in the Ronald Greene civil matter, but our money is on it not happening and a trial being conducted on the matter.

In conclusion regarding Fields’ appearance at the Baton Rouge Press Club, the vast majority of that presentation dealt with him bashing President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.”  Anyone is welcome to view Fields’ appearance in its entirety by clicking here.

Segment of court transcript in which 14th JDC Judge David Ritchie expresses his opinion of Gov. Landry’s legal skills in admonishing Billy Broussard to, “choose your lawyer carefully” in the future.

************** Editor’s Note:  In the original publication of this feature, we inadvertently failed to provide the documented proof that former GOHSEP Director Kevin Davis had been “briefed” on the Indian Bayou / Billy Broussard matter on Monday, June 29, 2015 at 11:02 a.m., a mere 2-1/2 hours prior to a meeting scheduled to be held at 1:30 p.m. that same day at then-Sen. Fred Mills’ office.  We have updated the feature to include that documented proof of the “briefing” from Mark DeBosier to Davis as placed on prominent display within this updated feature. **************

Today’s Sound Off Louisiana feature entails what we believe to be the best and most succinct arguments posed by Billy Broussard regarding the $1 million plus that he has alleged that he was cheated out of due to fraud which he alleges was perpetrated by several governmental officials associated with the now-non-existent Gravity Drainage District 8 of Ward 1 of Calcasieu Parish:

7/10/25:  Broussard makes formal apology to Gov. Landry and makes a direct correlation (which we assert is spot-on accurate) that he was the equivalent of Dr. William Blalock in the Shiva Akula Federal Medicare Fraud Case.

Here are links and support documents Broussard references in the video:

— Article entailing President Trump’s fight against massive Medicare fraud.   From that article:

The Trump Administration’s continuing fight against fraud, waste and abuse

The beginning of the second Trump administration brought the inception of DOGE and its tech-savvy staff tasked with finding fraud, waste, and abuse in government, including Medicare and Social Security.

HHS and CMS appear to be continuing DOGE’s mission with the introduction of an agreement among private insurance companies to “pledge to streamline and improve the prior authorization processes for Medicare Advantage, Medicaid Managed Care, Health Insurance Marketplace and commercial plans covering nearly eight out of 10 Americans.” Humana recently announced a plan to reduce prior authorizations by one-third and reduce wait times for others.

The introduction of the short list of Medicare services for prior authorization will test how well technologies such as machine learning and AI can streamline the prior authorization process. “CMS is committed to crushing fraud, waste, and abuse, and the WISeR Model will help root out waste in Original Medicare,” said CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz.

As part of the goal of rooting out waste and fraud, the Justice Department conducted a 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown. Results were released on June 30, 2025, and included charges against more than 300 defendants who were accused of a range of health care fraud schemes.

One particular indictment can provide some insight as to how or why some of the procedures/services were selected for the list. In one particular case, three defendants in Arizona allegedly conspired to give elderly Medicare recipients unnecessary skin grafts, known as “amniotic wound allografts.” The defendants allegedly pocketed millions of dollars and billed for “more than over $1 billion in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare and other health benefit providers for these medically unnecessary allografts.” To make matters worse, according to the indictment, the defendants are alleged to have targeted Medicare beneficiaries, many of whom were terminally ill in hospice care.

The WISeR Model and how the program will work

The WISeR Model (Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction) is meant to test the use of enhanced technologies, such as AI and machine learning, to decrease “certain wasteful or low-value services shown to have little to no clinical, evidence-based benefit.” CMS chooses services that “have been identified as particularly vulnerable to fraud, waste, and abuse, or inappropriate use.”

— Our coverage of Dr. Blalock’s testimony at Dr. Akula’s trial.  We firmly believe that Broussard’s direct comparison of himself to Dr. Blalock  is spot-on accurate!

— Here’s a copy of the business card which Kirk Harmon supplied to Billy Broussard, and it was Harmon who marked and directed all of the debris which Broussard removed from Indian Bayou:

Kirk Harmon’s business card, who represented himself as a GOHSEP monitor and who marked and ordered Broussard to remove all of the debris he removed in the Indian Bayou Project.

In our opinion, very, very importantly, as evidenced by the 1:19 – 1:31 mark of this video,  Mr. Michael Duane Higdon, who was a self-proclaimed monitor on the Indian Bayou project, states:  “I was a monitor, and actually what they hired me for was to shuttle Kirk Harmon, the State Inspector, back and forth by boat.”  We don’t see how there can be any greater proof that, not only did Broussard rely upon the orders of Harmon in removing the debris he was ordered and directed to remove, but so did Higdon, who readily admitted that he was hired for the sole purpose of “shuttlling Harmon (who he himself identified as a “state monitor“) back and forth by boat!”

— Additional context of 14th JDC Judge David Ritchie’s thoughts on Gov. Landry’s legal skills.

— The 2006 flooding Broussard references in the video above.  Broussard strongly contends that flooding was falsely attributed to Hurricane Rita debris when, in reality, the flooding resulted from neglect to maintain the waterways which allowed sinker cypress trees to accumulate in significant quantities that impeded the flow of water and which he subsequently cleared at the direct order of Kirk Harmon.

— Details of the obvious gift-card money laundering operation being conducted by then-Calcasieu Parish DA John DeRosier simultaneous to the timeframe in which he was charged with investigating the matter entailing Billy Broussard (which Broussard maintains he had an obvious conflict in that he represented the now-non-existent Drainage District).

— The email to Kirk Harmon which demonstrates clearly that another Project Worksheet Version would be required for all of the additional debris being uncovered and the need for obtaining the new version so as to, “keep the contractor (Broussard) from having to stop and wait on orders.”  We would note that Broussard did in fact have to cease all work for about approximately three (3) weeks before being instructed to resume debris removal operations:

Email from Harmon to Crabb wherein he openly states, “With the job about 10% complete, and 200 CY (cubic yards) total, I believe the estimate on the FEMA assessment of 850 CY (cubic yards) is going to come in very low.  When they reach a blockage or a tree in the canal to be cleared, they are finding two to three additional trees below the water line.”

The above email from Mark DeBosier to Kevin Davis (which contained only the attachment which is displayed next) demonstrates Broussard’s point that Davis was “briefed” on the Indian Bayou matter literally hours before the meeting between Broussard, then-Sen. Fred Mills, and Davis.  Further, in the attachment which follows, DeBosier clearly identifies an additional $453,000 in additional eligible debris which Broussard removed from the Bayou, yet he was never paid for doing so.

Then Sen. Fred Mills setting up the meeting between Davis, Mills, and Broussard (note that Davis responded with, “need Mark Riley to get info,” when what he meant was, “need Mark DeBosier to get info,” which is what caused the “briefing document” to be created as illustrated above.

Then Sen. Fred Mills’ office confirming the meeting to transpire on Monday, June 29, 2015 at 1:30 p.m.  Unbeknownst to Broussard on the day of the meeting, Davis had been “briefed” on the matter 2-1/2 hours before as evidenced by the email from DeBosier to Davis sent at 11:02 a.m. that same day.

The above video was taped on July 10, 2025.  Near the end of the video, Burns and Broussard allude to the vacancy on the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) as a result of Jared Caruso-Riecke’s May 23, 2015 resignation from the LSPC.

Broussard openly states that he has seen the three (3) nominations made by Dillard University President Monique Guillory which she submitted on June 20, 2025.  Broussard even stated his glee that Clyde Construction’s CEO Jonathan Kernion would be the one Gov. Landry tapped to fill the Riecke vacancy.  Operating under the belief that Gov. Landry still had ten (10) days left to make his selection, however, Burns cautioned him not to get out in front of Gov. Landry.

What Burns did not know at the time of that filming is that Gov. Landry had already made his selection of Kernion on June 21, 2025, one day after Guillory submitted his name for consideration.

Kernion should be sworn in on Thursday, August 14, 2025; however, Burns will not be present for the swearing in because he has an ophthalmology appointment in Houston that morning.

Regarding the LSPC, however, a significant number of both troopers and retired troopers have stated to us that LSPC Chairman Monty Montelongo needs to “resign immediately” as a result of his role in the Major Donavan Archote meal gate scandal.  It was Montelongo who approved all of the meal purchases, and sources guided us to Page 23 of the Louisiana Division of Administration travel policy regarding “special meals.”

Anyone is welcome to click on the link and view the requirements for such “special meals,” but it only takes a minute to see that LSP was in very obvious violation of many of the provisions of that section of the policy, not the least of which is that they should have gotten Division of Administration prior approval for the purchase of the meals.

One source had this to say:  “DPS does not have the authority to approve a purchase of this type with state issued funds so that memo is useless.”

The source was referencing the approval memos signed off by LTC Hasselback contained within the above-linked “meal gate scandal” feature.

For what it’s worth, we agree with the troopers’ calls for Montelongo’s immediate resignation, and we’ll see if Col. Hodges opts to call for his LSPC resignation similarly to the way former Col. Reeves called upon former LSPC Chairman T. J. Doss to resign immediately after the little “afternoon delight” rendezvous between then-Chairman Doss and then-Vice Chairman Monica Manzella.

Should Hodges fail to do so, to us, it can only mean one of two things:  #1) he has no real desire to insist upon integrity of those under him, particularly to be the Chairman of the very Commission which passes judgment upon other troopers, or #2) Hodges’ own hands are tied because he is an integral part of the lack of integrity within LSP.  That’s our assessment for what it’s worth.

EMS Reform Co-founder Walter Beach.

Today’s Sound Off Louisiana feature is a very informative interview with Walter Beach, who is the co-founder of EMS Reform, who contends that the Louisiana Legislature promotes monopolies of EMS services via LA R. S. 4791.1(D) which states:

Any municipality or other local governing authority is authorized to carry out the provisions of this Section as acts of government on behalf of the state as sovereign and, to the extent the governing authority deems necessary or appropriate, is further authorized to displace competition and provide a monopoly public service. All immunity of the state of Louisiana from liability under antitrust law is hereby extended to any municipality or other governing authority acting within the scope of authority contained in this Section and, when so acting, a municipality or other local governing authority shall be presumed to be acting in furtherance of state policy.

We fully expect to have Beach on Sound Off Louisiana as part of an ongoing series, but for this interview, his focus was primarily upon EBRP Mayor President Sid Edwards’ plan to allow Baton Rouge General Hospital to provide ambulance services, for which Beach applauds Edwards and controversies around Edwards’ plan to merge EBRP EMS with the BR Fire Department.  Here’s our interview with Beach:

August 6, 2025:  Beach provides his thoughts on Edwards’ proposal to allow Baton Rouge General Hospital to provide ambulance services and his proposal to merge EBRP EMS with BR Fire.

Here are highlights from the above-linked Advocate articles:

BRGH providing ambulance services:

For decades, Acadian Ambulance has provided the lion’s share of ambulance services not handled by East Baton Rouge’s own Emergency Medical Services, transporting patients from facilities like hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living centers and more in the parish.

But now, Mayor-President Sid Edwards has opened the door for a competitor, allowing Baton Rouge General to enter the market.

“We are excited about the opportunity to better support patients in Baton Rouge and help ensure they get where they need to go quickly,” said Meghan Parrish, Vice President of Marketing and Communications.

Edwards made the decision over protests from Acadian, which argues city-parish ordinances require the mayor to consider “whether the public convenience and necessity require,” a new ambulance service.

“We definitely did not like the way it was done, because it did not follow the ordinance,” said Acadian Director of Operations Porter Taylor.

Still, Taylor added that the company is “not interested in making it messy.”

According to Taylor and Acadian, no need for an additional provider exists.

” … it appears that Baton Rouge General’s intentions are self-serving,” he wrote. “To my knowledge, there have been no other health care entities in this parish that have expressed a need for additional ambulance services, including your own municipal EMS.”

On July 14, Edwards issued a letter to BRG granting a request to apply for an ambulance service for nonemergency calls and emergencies when requested by city-parish EMS.

Merger of EBRP EMS with BR Fire:

With Baton Rouge EMS workers pushing back on a recent announcement that their department will be merging with the city’s Fire Department, the mayor and emergency services leaders are trying to calm those anxieties.

But after a town hall meeting Tuesday led by East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Sid Edwards, EMS Director Chris Landry and BRFD Chief Michael Kimble, many of the EMS workers still expressed frustration.

At the meeting, which originally was meant to be closed but which Edwards decided to open to reporters, officials said no jobs or promotion structure will be lost, and EMS will keep control of its funding.

And while Landry, Edwards and others tried to put workers at ease, many EMS workers continued to voice their opposition to the merger.

“We need support, we do not need a merger,” said Emergency Medical Technician Amber Munch. “EMS has our own problems, just like everyone else, but the fire department is not the answer to those problems. Support is.”

Since the merger was announced in June, EMS workers have voiced concerns about their positions and benefits, wondering if cuts would take place.

Kimble said there has been a lot of “misinformation” on those subjects over the past month or so.

The back-and-forth between workers and officials remained mostly civil, though tensions rose as many EMS workers repeatedly asked why the merger was happening.

“Because I want it,” the mayor finally said.

Paramedic Association President Janice Willard said officials didn’t have answers to many of the questions EMS workers were asking.

“It was a lot of dancing around questions, not really answering anything,” Willard said. “I could see a lot of people in the audience, especially from EMS, very frustrated. And a lot of people got up and left. I think that says a lot.”

Before the meeting ended, one worker asked the mayor if the merger was a done deal.

Edwards replied and said he wants it to move forward and the process, but conceded that “If it was 100%, I wouldn’t have wasted my time coming.”

“I still feel strong about it happening,” Edwards said. “But to answer your question: no. I’m listening to you … Because look, anytime you come in to try and change something … people get very uncomfortable.”

As Burns states on the video, this matter is, “not going to be resolved in a week,” and we look forward to having Beach return as this process advances further along.

Furthermore, as Burns also states on the video, Edwards and/or his representatives are more than welcome to engage in a Sound Off Louisiana feature to present his side of this matter.  As always, we will be more than happy to accommodate.