In an effort to determine the consistency of enforcement of traffic laws, here are just a few stories LouisianaVoice pulled off the internet at random:
SYNOPSIS: Ponchatoula police arrested David Brunet, 33, of Folsom, on charges of negligent homicide after he struck and killed 29-year-old Justin Settoon of Ponchatoula on Aug. 29.
Police said Settoon had a green light and attempted to cross an intersection when he was struck by Brunet who they said ran a red light.
SYNOPSIS: State Police booked Denis Yasmir Amaya Rodriguez, 37, a Honduran immigrant, on three counts of negligent homicide and 41 counts of negligent injuring, reckless driving and driving without a license when a bus he was driving struck a parked fire truck in St. John the Baptist Parish.
He was transporting 31 passengers looking for work on flood recovery following the August 2016 floods that struck South Louisiana. State Police said he was in the country illegally.
SYNOPSIS: State Police booked Joshua Cole Stinson, 35, on charges of negligent homicide on July 12 after police said he ran a stop sign, striking and killing 81-year-old Curtis Simmons of Tylertown, Mississippi. Stinson was also booked for failure to stop at a stop sign and driving with an expired driver’s license.
SYNOPSIS: State Police booked Elmer Menendez, 32, of Utah on one count of negligent homicide, for not having a child restrained properly and for not wearing a seat belt after his 9-year-old son was killed in a collision with a second vehicle. Police said when Menendez lost control of his pickup truck, it spun along the road and crossed into oncoming traffic where it was struck by an SUV driven by Ron Adams, 46, of Baton Rouge.
SYNOPSIS: Ascension Parish authorities booked John D. Sanchez, 27, of St. Amant, for negligent homicide after his vehicle drifted into an adjacent lane on Interstate 10, striking a vehicle driven by Floyd Cox of Baton Rouge, killing him.
SYNOPSIS: Louisiana State Police arrested 19-year-old Christopher M. Lymous of St. Rose for negligent homicide in connection with a single car accident in which his 20-year-old passenger, Charles Green, Jr., also of St. Rose, was killed when he was ejected from the vehicle. State Police said Lymous was traveling 90 mph in a 55 mph speed zone prior to the January 2015 accident.
Police said Lymous swerved into the northbound lane of LA. 626 and lost control of his vehicle when he attempted to re-enter the southbound lane. The vehicle veered from the road, dropped into a ditch, hit multiple trees and flipped several times. Lymous voluntarily submitted to blood and breath tests for the purposes of determining impairment, both of which tested negative.
SYNOPSIS: Caddo Parish sheriff’s deputies arrested Carbin Logan, 42, of Deberry, Texas, when his SUV struck a horse and was in turn hit by an oncoming motorcycle, killing the cyclist, Vera Martin, 51, of Bethany, and critically injuring her husband, Gene Martin, 52.
Though authorities said Logan was driving drunk, he was not arrested for DUI but for vehicular negligent homicide and vehicular negligent injury.
SYNOPSIS: State Police in July of this year arrested both drivers involved in a fatal accident in St. John the Baptist Parish in December 2016 following a seven-month investigation. Arrested were Christian Moses, 18, of Gonzales, negligent homicide, and Tylas Bailey, 24, of Vacherie, vehicular homicide and driving under the influence.
The difference in negligent homicide and negligent vehicular homicide is negligent homicide means impairment was not a factor, police said.
Police said Moses made a left turn while traveling north on Airline Highway in Reserve into the path of Baily who was traveling south. Bailey’s vehicle struck Moses, killing Bailey’s passenger, Danielle Georgel of LaPlace.
- https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2006/07/nola-j22.html
- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/no-charges-for-doctor-in-katrina-deaths/
SYNOPSIS: On orders of then-Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti, head and neck surgeon Dr. Anna Pou, 50, and three of her nurses were arrested on four counts of second-degree murder after patients under Dr. Pou’s care died during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Sanity prevailed, however, and Foti’s hysterical overreach was discounted as a grand jury refused to indict Dr. Pou and her nurses.
SYNOPSIS: St. Charles Parish sheriff’s deputies arrested Dallas Veillon, 57, of Luling, was convicted of negligent homicide when a St. Charles deputy sheriff was killed after the deputy struck Veillon’s vehicle in August 2013.
The deputy, Jeff Watson, was killed when Veillon pulled into Watson’s path. State Police, studying surveillance camera footage from a nearby store, determined that Watson, who was traveling an estimated 90 mph in a 35 mph zone, did not activate his lights and siren until .88 seconds prior to the crash.
Typically, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry was quick to offer an opinion, albeit it inaccurate and uninformed, on the conviction of Veillon. “According to expert witnesses, Dallas Veillon had a blood alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit at the time of the crash…”
Veillon’s BAC was .10 percent, which is in excess of the .08 percent legal limit, but hardly twice the legal limit.
All of which brings us to our main point:
- http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/courts/article_363d9d60-82b4-11e7-996a-2f9987dab438.html
SYNOPSIS: Louisiana State Trooper Christopher Kelley of Troop E in Alexandria, driving to New Orleans Mardi Gras detail, was not on duty nor was he in an emergency situation. Accordingly, he did not have his lights or siren engaged.
Yet he was traveling on U.S. 190 in Pointe Coupee Parish at 111 mph—more than twice the posted speed limit—only seconds before striking Henry Baise, 64, killing him. Police said Baise pulled into Kelley’s path and that Kelley attempted to avoid the crash, slamming on his brakes which slowed his vehicle down to 79 mph at the point of impact—still 24 mph over the speed limit—speeds for which John Q. Public gets a speeding ticket, collision or no.
Prosecutor Tony Clayton said a grand jury reviewed a “brutally honest” State Police investigation before refusing to indict Kelley.
Anyone who knows anything about our system of justice knows that a prosecutor can manipulate and steer a grand jury in any direction he please. A skilled prosecutor can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich or to, say, just as an example, not indict a law enforcement officer for driving 111 mph and striking and killing an innocent driver who, unable to judge such high speed, pulls into his path—precisely the scenario that occurred in Kelley’s case.
All of which raises the obvious question is what did that “brutally honest” State Police investigation produce in the way of disciplinary action against Kelley for driving at such an excessive speed?
The answer is a whopping suspension without pay for 14 weeks.
Fourteen weeks without pay for killing a man while driving like a maniac.
Nice.
It seems to us that Trooper Kelley would have a helluva lot of nerve to ever write another speeding citation the rest of his career in law enforcement.
It’s little wonder that there is growing disrespect for and suspicion of law enforcement in this country.
Well, the famous Doug Cain quote, ” That was another Administration” excuse is coming to an END. Kevin Reeves fingerprints are on this decision and the Miller Payroll Fraud Decision.
The public needs to be attentive to the remaining San Diego/Vegas Scandal Decision on Hyatt and Williams.
The Public needs to DEMAND a public report from the Legislative Auditor on the Department. The Public needs to demand a REPORT on the State Fire Marshal on what Tom has exposed here.
Again, it looks like EDMONSON and DUPUY are still running things the way certain legislators and the sheriff’s association wants them to.
DRAIN THE SWAMP!
This is ludicrous. This trooper got off with a cake walk.
He killed someone driving like a maniac and they let him skate with 14 weeks without pay? He must have had some kinda special help in that so-called investigation.
I have to eat my words because when Mr.Tom is right, he is right on the money.
I hope the family sues this trooper for killing their family member.
I don’t think he should give out another ticket for speeding ever again in his life. That would be a double standard approach and downright sinful in my opinion.
One bad apple taints the whole bushel and that is the shameful part of it all.
Anyone who drives the highways of Louisiana knows the absolute worse drivers are the state police. They speed, tailgate, do not use signals, drive in the “passing lane,” slam on brakes, cut around people, dive across medians, chase speeders at excessive speeds (if one speeder is bad, what is two?) etc. with not so much as a nod; but let you do anything along those lines… And for that matter, why are they all driving SUVs when a car is totally sufficient? Are the trucks for Las Vegas trips?
Hi Tom:
Would you be interested in writing a story about St. Tammany Parish/Pat Brister corruption?
Sent from my iPhone
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The new Colonel has not created a reset button for disciplinary actions, only dusted off and using the one Edmonson and Dupuy stowed away in the closet. The Miller decision, admitted payroll fraud, injuring public documents( doctored timesheets), and theft, received a letter of reprimand. So I guess since my COLAs are so small and in between, if I rob a bank, spend the money between checks, as long as I give some of the money back I won’t be charged. If You are pulled over going 25 miles over the speed limit you can be charged with reckless operation, which is a misdemeanor crime. The blame not only should fall on the State Police brass but also on the district attorney’s office.
What is sad, throughout my career up to the point of my retirement, I saw good troopers get written up on bogus complaints the department pursued just because these certain individuals were honest and refused to commit payroll fraud or illegally arrest people for a numbers game. They received full suspensions without pay for minor policy violations falsely purported by the department. But you have an individual who committed theft and he just got a letter of reprimand which he is contesting. The Kelley decision is not justifiable. Someone needs to find out if he was still in probation, I believe it was changed to two years 3-4 years ago, if so there is no need or reason to dismiss an employee. The state police ran off a lot of ethical supervisors and troopers this last decade because they stood against this type of behavior. They fought until the retaliation could no longer be borne, while the department fights to keep these individuals on the payrolls. Tom, I hear from and inside source, they have turned internal affairs upside down with massive transfers, might be something to that.
“29 mph over speed limit at point of impact.” I was told by LA State Police that 20 MPH over speed limit was a “straight to jail, with impounded vehicle” rule on LA highways. Is it or isn’t it?
Just my opinion which I am already aware is nothing to most….
A officer of the law should in all due respect; be held more accountable than a citizen. If I am doing a job I should know all the rules and uphold them.
Therefore, if you are an enforcer of the law you should be held at higher standards and sentenced accordingly not lightly.
A life taken can’t be replaced even if taken by an officer of the law. This young 29 year old man was not breaking the law and his life was taken because of a lawman’s negligence. He should be sentenced the same as the next person.
Tom, since the trooper was not responding to a call, he should be treated just like every other driver you mentioned above. He is not above the law. If it had been me or you, we would have been handcuffed and appropriately charged.