Louisiana NAACP showers praise and adoration on Gov. Edwards, but were some members’ concerns over Louisiana law enforcement actions for black arrestees brushed aside?

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, who was the special guest speaker at the NAACP Zoom meeting of Monday, April 19, 2021.

Gov. John Bel Edwards was the guest speaker at the Zoom meeting of the Louisiana NAACP on Monday, April 19, 2021.

We want to begin this feature by expressing thanks to Gov. Edwards and to the Louisiana NAACP for permitting us to attend the meeting via Zoom.  Sound Off Louisiana was an invited guest for the meeting, and we sincerely appreciate the invitation permitting us to attend the meeting.

Let’s break down the segments of the meeting with a series of video clips for viewers to choose which ones they may have interest in viewing:


The meeting officially kicks off with a musical introduction to welcome Gov. Edwards.


Immediately after the musical introduction came the invocation.


After the invocation, Louisiana NAACP President Michael McClanahan gave a very strong and authoritative introduction of Gov. Edwards in which he (Edwards) was showered with praise and adoration.


Obviously realizing there was an 800-pound gorilla in the room, Gov. Edwards, early on during his prepared remarks, addressed concerns of Louisiana NAACP members entailing law enforcement actions across the U. S. entailing the arrests of African American men.


Further into his prepared remarks, Gov. Edwards stressed current Legislative initiatives such as reducing gender inequality in pay for women, his strong support for an increase in Louisiana’s minimum wage, and a bill he actively supports to alter factors which automobile insurers are permitted to consider when setting automobile insurance rates in Louisiana.  [Editor’s Note:  Someone chose to exit the meeting, and that caused the windows of attendees to be pushed upward.  Unfortunately, we did not catch the fact that had transpired, and so much of the video above is of another attendee who, like us, wasn’t sitting directly in front of the computer monitor.  We apologize for this occurrence.]


Gov. Edwards takes one of several pre-submitted questions in addressing NAACP members’ desires for minority judge(s) in Terrebonne Parish.


Gov. Edwards responds to another pre-submitted question regarding a planned upcoming meeting with President Biden to discuss Louisiana’s role during a transition period away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy.


Gov. Edwards responds to another pre-submitted question entailing redistricting and whether or not he would veto any redistricting bill which does not create a second minority district in the U. S. Congress in Louisiana.


Gov. Edwards responds to a pre-submitted question inquiring about his endorsement process and asking why he failed to endorse the Democratic front runner in the recent special U. S. Congressional District 5 in Louisiana race made necessary by the death of Congressman-elect Luke Letlow from COVID.


Gov. Edwards begins taking live questions, with the first being if he would pardon “wrongfully-convicted inmates” at Louisiana prisons and a follow-up question regarding work programs to ensure released inmates do not cause a homelessness problem in Louisiana.


Gov. Edwards takes the second (and last) live question, which pertained to providing for broadband internet access to rural areas and areas in North Louisiana.  Thereafter, McClanahan and Gov. Edwards exchanged pleasantries, and McClanahan invited Gov. Edwards to join the NAACP at its annual convention beginning on September 16, 2021.  Gov. Edwards stated that, if he’s invited, he’d be delighted to, “celebrate part of the day of my 55th birthday on September 16 with everyone.”  McClanahan indicated the NAACP would ensure cake and ice cream are available for the celebration.


McClanahan began to wrap up the meeting by stressing the desire to stay vigilant in the fight against COVID, by making an open endorsement of Dr. Cassie Williams for this Saturday’s special election to fill a vacancy on the BESE Board, and by encouraging everyone to show up at the polls on Saturday and vote in the special election for U. S. Congress District 2 from Louisiana which became open after former U. S. Congressman Cedric Richmond accepted a position as Senior Advisor to President Biden and Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.

As we mentioned at the outset of this feature, we were invited guests of the meeting.  As such, we therefore believe that our role is appropriately limited to merely providing the contents of the meeting as we’ve done above.  We do not believe it would be appropriate for us to make our own commentary because, as we’ve stressed, we were invited guests of Gov. Edwards and the Louisiana NAACP.

Having said that, what we do feel is certainly fair game for us to report upon is that our phone rang the day after the meeting with an NAACP member who was not happy at all with the meeting.  What we found out is that we made a serious error when we turned our camera off right where the very last video ends above.

We are told that the meeting erupted into fireworks thereafter with some very sharp criticism of President McClanahan for, in these members’ opinion, being deceptive about the nature of the meeting with Gov. Edwards.  Specifically, they contend that communication promoting the meeting indicated there would be opportunities for open questions posed to Gov. Edwards regarding very specific matters entailing Louisiana State Police news reports of excessive force in recent arrests of African American men in Louisiana.  There were other questions regarding prison inmates in Louisiana which these members expressed frustration that went unaddressed.

We can only apologize both to our subscribers and to the NAACP members who wished to voice their frustration at the inability to pose what they deem as “hard questions” of Gov. Edwards during the meeting.  We have been informed that there likely will be a separate Zoom meeting during which these frustrations are aired.  If so, we will be happy to publish the content of that Zoom meeting just as we did the one above.  Further, if such a Zoom meeting materializes, we commit to provide Gov. Edwards with unlimited and unedited camera time to respond to any concerns which these NAACP members feel were not addressed during the meeting outlined above.

With the disclosure of the previous paragraph out of the way, if anyone wishes to view the meeting from start to the point we turned the camera off (and we again apologize for doing so about eight minutes too soon from what we’ve been told), we welcome any such person to do so by merely CLICKING HERE.

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As Louisiana State Police Col. Lamar Davis imposes maximum 720-hour suspension to his predecessor’s son, public outcry erupts over lack of termination and criminal charges.

WBRZ (Channel 2)’s investigative reporter Chris Nakamoto covers the 720-hour suspension handed down by Louisiana State Police Col. Lamar Davis regarding a fatal crash at which his predecessor’s son, Kaleb Reeves, was deemed at fault.

We have little doubt that Louisiana State Police (LSP) Col. Lamar Davis has been able to spend precious little time performing the agency’s core functions as a result of the extensive drains on his time to deal with problematic troopers over whom he assumed command in early October of 2020.

After all, since then, alleged domestic abuser Michael Satcher, who has received little public attention outside of Sound Off Louisiana, resigned on December 18, 2020.

Jacob Brown, son of former LSP Chief of Staff Robert Brown, who had a plethora of alleged deployments of excessive force and lying on police reports and whom LSP Academy Records indicated never should have been hired as an LSP Trooper in the first place, resigned in disgrace about six weeks ago.

Days later, Kasha Domingue, who shot an unarmed man in the back,  was terminated.

Randall Dickerson, one of three LSP Troopers who successfully obtained a Temporary Restraining Order stopping investigations of his and the other two troopers’ alleged use of excessive force when making arrests (the order was subsequently dissolved), resigned about two weeks ago.

We are aware of other disciplinary matters entailing LSP; however, because of conflicting statements entailing whether at least one such matter entailed the trooper resigning or being terminated, we have pending public records requests with LSP which should resolve that issue, after which we’ll certainly report on it.

We are also awaiting the receipt of pending public records requests prior to publishing our next feature on the Air Support Unit of LSP.  Additionally, we are pausing our planned multi-feature coverage of former Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) member Calvin Braxton until we’re able to clarify a few outstanding issues thereof.

With the disclosures from the preceding paragraph out of the way, we believe we have received reliable information indicating that Davis likely yet faces additional disciplinary matters pertaining to Troops L (Mandeville/Covington) and B (New Orleans).

We’ll have more to say on those matters entailing troops L and B in a subsequent feature which, being blunt, is the feature we referenced near the end of our Billy Broussard “sneak a smooch” feature (which has itself exceeded our expectations of the level of viewership of that feature).

We stated at the end of that feature that we expected the aforementioned feature on LSP to be out in “three or four days.”  The reality is that obtaining the material we deem necessary to proceed with that feature (which can’t be obtained from LSP but certainly does exist) has proven far more difficult than we anticipated.  Nevertheless, everything is now starting to jell for that feature, and we expect it out soon.

Now on to today’s feature, which has already been covered in the usual excellent manner by WBRZ (Channel 2 in Baton Rouge)’s investigative reporter Chris Nakamoto.  So, let’s go ahead and present Nakamoto’s excellent coverage below:


WBRZ investigative reporter Chris Nakamoto’s  April 16, 2021 feature entailing LSP Col. Lamar Davis imposing the maximum 720-hour suspension on Kaleb Reeves, the son of former LSP Col. Kevin Reeves (CLICK HERE for the documents Nakamoto references entailing Reeves’ past wrecks with LSP).

All anyone has to do is read the public commentary beneath Nakamoto’s feature and listen to what colleague Sylvia Weatherspoon says as she introduces Nakamoto’s feature to know there is most definitely a public outcry concerning the absence of criminal charges against Reeves for his latest wreck and the two young lives lost as a result.

That fact, as Nakamoto makes obvious, is reinforced by the fact that a motorist who caused an accident two months ago entailing similar circumstances IS facing criminal charges.  Several LSP sources have also told us in no uncertain terms that Reeves should have been terminated rather than, “merely suspended for 720 hours.”

All we can add to Nakamoto’s feature and the commentary we’ve received entailing a perception of lack of adequacy of consequences for Kaleb Reeves is that, given that the Legislature had to carve out an exception for Reeves to be hired in the first place AND given the fact that his father disregarded his promise and awarded his son Kaleb a prized detective position LONG before other troopers were eligible for such a position, we can only revert back to the words of Col. Davis that “the public is getting the perception that police offices are being treated special.”

To reinforce that notion, just take a few moments to examine the incredible number of promotions then-LSP Col. Kevin Reeves awarded to those whom he would need to sign off approving his son obtaining the detective position.  They’re all readily available for anyone’s viewing pleasure at the link we just provided.

Predictably, Doug Cain (then public information officer under Reeves) called Sound Off Louisiana’s Burns to explain that Kaleb Reeves obtaining the detective position was, “not a promotion but a mere lateral move.”  Further, the matter was obviously sensitive enough that LSP Legal Counsel Faye Morrison reduced Cain’s words to writing on December 20, 2018.  Although that correspondence to Burns included an invitation to feel free to call her if Burns had any questions, the very same day, December 20, 2018,  Morrison made it crystal clear via email to Burns that any further inquiries entailing Kaleb Reeves obtaining the detective position should be, “directed to Major Cain or Lieutenant Manale.”

Who knows?  Perhaps Reeves was tossed into a detective position in an effort to minimize his time on the road given his utterly horrendous driving record not only with LSP but, as Nakamoto points out, at his prior position with the Jackson Parish Sheriff’s Office.  At any rate, for reasons unknown and subsequent to our feature linked above, Kaleb Reeves was transferred back to patrol.

Of course, this is not the first instance in which having a horrendous driving record failed to inhibit a major promotion (or even “lateral transfer” as Cain insisted was the case with Reeves and the detective position) at LSP.  In fact, former Gov. Bobby Jindal opted to name Mike Edmonson as LSP Colonel (at the DIRECT behest of the Louisiana Sheriff’s Association, which has a long history of calling the shots on LSP’s operations), and we’ll just begin to wrap this feature up by providing links for Edmonson’s horrendous driving record prior to being appointed LSP Col.  Here they are (we threw in one non-driving episode as lagniappe):

LSP Edmonson disciplinary file links:

1.  Reprimand for crashing LSP vehicle and being at fault.

2.  10-Day Suspension for violating payroll protocol.

3.  Letter of reprimand for careless operation of vehicle.

4.  40-Hour Suspension for “not being aware of
 your condition” behind the wheel and crashing yet another
vehicle (with it being a total loss).

5.  16-Hour suspension for careless operation of vehicle.

Now, lest anyone think that Jindal is the only Governor with an “Edmonson stench” associated with his name, we make the following observation:

When another blogger inquired of then-candidate for Governor, John Bel Edwards, in 2015 regarding whether he intended to reappoint Edmonson if he were elected Governor of Louisiana, Edwards responded in writing that, “I’ve not made a decision.”

Then, at the celebratory party on the night of Edwards’ 2015 victory, at least according to Edmonson, Edwards approached Edmonson and said, “I never even considered appointing anyone as Colonel but you!”

Edwards only made his reappointment of Edmonson far worse in the choice he made in appointing his successor (Kevin Reeves).

Given the massive extent of the cancer that quietly permeated LSP during Reeves’ entire tenure, it’s really ironic that he would characterize the timeframe prior to his appointment as, “the darkest days State Police has had,” (see 16:09 mark of the just-linked video), and yet during his administration, LSP, by any objective assessment, got massively darker than it was when he was appointed.

Furthermore, in sharp contrast to Reeves’ words on that video (trust us, it’s worth it for Louisiana citizens to watch the entire Reeves video linked in the preceding paragraph), regarding his commitment to, “hold LSP accountable,” his administration did anything but, and at no time was that fact made more evident than when Reeves himself wrote a letter to The Advocate imploring the paper to “move forward” entailing its LSP coverage.

That letter was timed to coincide with the departure of then-Advocate reporter (now AP reporter) Jim Mustian, who was doing a superb job of attempting to “hold LSP accountable.”  Mustian still is doing a superb job in that regard, and he now has the added advantage of a broader platform to expose LSP’s deficiencies.

It is a very difficult challenge to try to “hold LSP accountable,” but we at Sound Off Louisiana and other media outlets mentioned in this feature are certainly trying to give it our all to do just that!

If you would like to be added to our Sound Off Louisiana email list to be notified of future posts, simply go to our home page and scroll to the bottom (mobile devices) or to the top of the right-hand column (desktops).  Supply your email address within the subscribe box.  You’ll then receive an automated email from Word Press, and all you have to do is click on the blue “confirm follow” bar contained within that email, and you’ll begin receiving great posts such as the preceding one above.

Notwithstanding alleged referencing of black arrestee as a “stupid motherfucker” and a “dumb bitch,” Louisiana State Trooper George Harper now all set to enjoy one of those “extended taxpayer-funded vacations.”

Louisiana State Police Troopers Dakota DeMoss (left) and George Harper (right).

Mainly because of the foul language allegedly uttered by Louisiana State Police Trooper George Harper when making an arrest of a black Mississippi man together with subsequent texts between him and three other troopers reveling in that same arrest and subsequent jailing of the arrestee, our feature of three of those troopers successfully obtaining a temporary restraining order to block any investigation of their actions ultimately gained international attention.

One of those three troopers, Randall Dickerson, resigned effective March 28, 2021.  The two other troopers who successfully obtained the temporary restraining order, which was subsequently dissolved, Dakota DeMoss and George Harper, sought action by the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) on Thursday, April 8, 2021.  Specifically, they requested to be permitted to exhaust all of their compensatory time, time-and-a-half compensatory time, annual leave, and their remaining 400 hours of administrative leave, which is scheduled to expire on or about April 12, 2021, prior to being placed on leave without pay as their criminal investigations continue.

Before we take a look at the video of the two troopers’ request at the meeting, however, let’s first again review the foulmouthed language of Trooper George Harper and the texts of revelry sent by him and three other troopers to include Jacob Brown, son of former LSP Chief of Staff Robert Brown.  Jacob Brown was himself the subject of numerous allegations of excessive force during arrests (and falsifying documents pertaining to those arrests), and he resigned from LSP about a month ago.  Here are those texts and Harper’s arrest commentary:

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. ”

It should be noted that the system sends the messages out in a similar fashion as group messages on a cellular phone. When a message is sent out, it went out to each of the four troopers simultaneously.

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”

With that background, let’s now take a look at the LSPC’s consideration of the “extended taxpayer-funded vacation” as characterized by Ms. Belinda Parker-Brown, founder of Louisiana United International, and who attended today’s LSPC meeting and chose to make public comment on the DeMoss and Harper requests:

LSPC consideration of DeMoss and Harper’s requests and public comment by Belinda Parker-Brown entailing those requests.  CLICK HERE for the material Brown references regarding police liability insurance.

After the meeting, we visited with Belinda Parker-Brown along with her husband, Carl, and here is video of some further observations they had entailing the meeting, the Louisiana State Trooper’s Association, and the Louisiana State Police Commission:


Belinda Parker-Brown, along with her husband, Carl, provide some commentary to Sound Off Louisiana soon after the LSPC meeting.  CLICK HERE for the video referenced in the video above entailing LSP Col. Lamar Davis stating that people are obtaining the impression that “police officers are being treated special.”

No sooner had we wrapped up the preceding video did Dr. Oscar Omar Dantzler show up on the scene with a few thoughts of his own, so let’s take a look at just what he had to say on the recent arrests of numerous LSP troopers for alleged excessive force being used during recent arrests:

 
Dr. Oscar Omar Dantzler provides his thoughts on recent arrests of LSP troopers for alleged use of excessive force during arrests that those troopers made.

CLICK HERE for WBRZ (Channel 2 in Baton Rouge) Investigative Reporter Chris Nakamoto’s news feature on Harper and DeMoss.

CLICK HERE for the LSPC meeting of April 8, 2021 in its entirety.

If you would like to be added to our Sound Off Louisiana email list to be notified of future posts, simply go to our home page and scroll to the bottom (mobile devices) or to the top of the right-hand column (desktops).  Supply your email address within the subscribe box.  You’ll then receive an automated email from Word Press, and all you have to do is click on the blue “confirm follow” bar contained within that email, and you’ll begin receiving great posts such as the preceding one above.