The aunt of De'Eric Bailey who was gunned down by police last month, Jimmerlyn Glover (right) and Carla Bailey gather at the Caddo Parish Courthouse to protest his and other SPD officer involved shootings.
SHREVEPORT, LA - Gunshots from police. A 22-year-old dead inside of his vehicle. No weapon found.
That’s the scenario that helped spark the outrage and demands for answers and explanations in Shreveport over the past month.
It’s also the scenario that left Tremendous Davis, 24, dead in 2008 along with Kashiwa Pineset, 34, in 2007— two cases that offer a glimpse at Shreveport police investigations into officer-involved fatal shootings over the years.
Looking back 10 years, as many people, at least, have lost their lives at the hands of Shreveport police officers. The actions of the officers were picked apart by in-house investigators, who check for violations of departmental policies on the use of force, and by prosecutors, who determine whether criminal charges will be filed.
And in each case, an internal affairs investigation ruled the officers’ actions were justified, as did the Caddo Parish District Attorney’s office.
Jimmerlyn Glover says a fair and unbiased investigation into last month’s death of her nephew will break the pattern.
“Something needs to be done about Shreveport police killing unarmed men,” she said. “This is happening way too often — people getting shot in the back and while driving. We need some justice for De’Eric and all the people they have killed that were not justified.
“Something needs to be done.”
De’Eric Bailey was shot Aug. 18 after a brief police chase on Interstate 20. Officer Jennifer Monereau tried to stop Bailey's vehicle on a traffic violation near Cotton at Common streets. Police say Bailey sped off and eventually was westbound on I-20 just west of the Linwood Avenue exit.
At some point, he lost control of the vehicle, causing it to strike a concrete barrier alongside the interstate, then ignored further commands to surrender.
Police say Bailey nearly ran down a passenger who had jumped out of the vehicle.
That’s when Officer Hai Phan fired multiple shots, hitting Bailey, who later died. Shreveport Police Department completed its investigation into the shooting last week and turned it over to the district attorney’s office.
Glover said police have yet to provide the family details of the events. However, two witnesses — one of whom has gone public — say Bailey was defenseless as officers opened fire on him.
“We need these police and the DA to do the right thing and hold the officers accountable,” Glover said.
Authorities stress that answers and explanations do not come quickly when it comes to officer-involved shootings. That reality engenders in some a sense of mistrust and a belief that the process is skewed to law enforcement, which leads to layers of scrutiny from the media and the community.
Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said the process of investigating officer-involved shootings could turn out to be a long one involving careful and disciplined work.
“Just because a law enforcement agency doesn’t immediately respond doesn’t mean that the incident isn’t being taken seriously or that there’s a coverup,” Levenson said. “I know people want answers now, but it’s impossible.”
Levenson said such shootings and incidents have undergone extreme scrutiny over the past two decades.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that officers can use deadly force only when they believe that a suspect poses a “significant threat” of death or serious injury to them or others. But that must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, the court found, “rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight.”
“There’s a misunderstanding among the public that it’s just the police investigating the police, when in fact there are often four investigations happening at once — one by the police, another by the DA, another by the FBI and yet another by civil attorneys,” Levenson said.
To get a conviction, however, a prosecutor would have to prove that no legal justification existed for the officer’s action.
It’s unknown when the investigation into Bailey’s death will be complete, but Caddo District Attorney Charles Scott maintains that his office takes the investigation into all officer-involved shootings seriously.
“The officers and the citizens involved deserve our very best efforts,” Scott said.
File materials received from the law enforcement agency are reviewed by chief of the homicide screening division and assigned to an investigator, most of whom are retired homicide investigators, Scott said.
Additional witnesses are contacted as necessary, as well as any additional materials from the original investigating agency and other agencies, such as the coroner’s office.
“The persons or the family of the persons involved with the police shooting are contacted for informational purposes and to determine if they have any information that would be helpful to the investigation,” Scott said.
The results are discussed with the DA and a decision is made whether there are facts sufficient to support proof of a criminal charge against the officer beyond a reasonable doubt. Once that determination is made, the person or the person’s family is contacted and advised of the results.
The original agency is also advised of the results, Scott said.
The investigation process and outcome has its critics. Lester Smith, founder of Faces of Injustice, calls it a pattern of injustice. He said the process needs to be looked at more closely. Smith organized Faces of Injustice to not only address police shootings, but all shootings of black men.
“I think there is a problem across the board when black men are killed,” Smith said. “I don’t think the system treats these cases fairly. Sometimes there is justice when one black man kills another, but as we all see, there is a pattern of police officers being exonerated when they kill our black men.
“They fail to realize those people had rights that our civil rights leaders fought hard for. They are violating those rights by killing them and then the system is letting them go free. This just isn’t right.”
Statistics from Shreveport Police Department show that not all people killed by police in the past 10 years were African-American.
Bill Goodin, assistant to the Shreveport police chief, echoes the DA regarding the seriousness of the department’s use-of-force incidents and investigations. Police officials understand the importance of having the public’s trust to effectively serve and protect the residents of Shreveport.
Shreveport Police Department works at being translucent and proactive when releasing information within the confines of the revised statutes. State law delineates what records law enforcement agencies may and may not release, Goodin said.
“No police officer wants to come to work and hurt someone … it goes against our very grain,” Goodin said. “We became public servants to help, not to hurt, and when an officer is put in a position where he or she must use deadly force, there are no winners.
“As Chief Willie Shaw has said in the past, these events are a tragedy for all involved. But at the end of the day, we know the issue of accountability is of paramount import and we will continue to uphold our obligation to the citizens we have sworn to serve and protect.”
Police shootings account for one of every 10 shooting deaths in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
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