Louisiana Voice

THE LAW IS FOR PROTECTION OF THE PEOPLE.

Perhaps so, but Hammond Police Chief Edwin Bergeron has to go.

A disturbing video that the Hammond Police Department has insisted for nearly three years didn’t exist has now surfaced that puts Bergeron at the center of a no-holds-barred assault on a handcuffed prisoner back in 2017.

Kentdrick Ratliff may not be Billy Dalton or Homer Lee Honeycutt immortalized in Kris Kristofferson’s song, but he didn’t deserve the all-out attack from half-a-dozen of Hammond’s doughnut-fed finest. One officer, Sgt. Thomas Mushinsky couldn’t resist the temptation to aim a swift kick to the most vulnerable area of Ratliff’s (or any man’s) body as he lay legs apart, motionless and face down on the floor after being punched repeatedly by then-Sgt. Bergeron and then tased.

Out of the gaggle of officers who participated in or watched the one-sided melee, only Mushinsky has faced any disciplinary action even though other officers can be seen kicking Ratliff in the head and yet another officer kept his heavy tactical boot on Ratliff’s neck as still another kneeled on his body.

If you have the stomach for it, you can watch the video HERE.

Ratliff’s sin? He tried to reach for a bottle of pills sitting on the desk next to where he was sitting while his hands were cuffed behind him. He was initially arrested for the violent crime of blocking a sidewalk with his car. A search of his vehicle turned up the bottle of pills and a small amount of pot.

He didn’t put up much of a fight when Bergeron pounced on him like a monkey on a cupcake and delivered five quick blows with his fist as Ratliff descended into an opening on top of the desk.

Attorney Ravi Shah, who represents Ratliff who said he and the Tangipahoa Parish district attorney have been told for years that no video of the incident existed.

That remained the official version of the truth until someone leaked the full video to Baton Rouge TV station WBRZ and its investigative reporter Chris Nakamoto.

“What shocked me is that they would so blatantly lie and tell another officer of the court that the video did not exist, and it did at one point and clearly still exists now showing what happened to my client,” Shah said.

There was little reason to conceal the existence of the video, after all, because of the restrictive doctrine of QUALIFIED IMMUNITY, the antiquated law which shields police officers – and prosecutors – from liability in all but the most heinous violations of “clearly established” rights.

Nakamoto provided LouisianaVoice with a copy of a REPORT done by Use of Force Consultants of McKinney, Texas, when a link to the report on WBRZ’s online story did not work. That report says Mushinsky’s kick was a “trained distraction technique but said that the force used by Bergeron and another officer was “excessive and borderline criminal.”

The report also said, “There were six strikes delivered by Sgt. Bergeron and three strikes by Officer Dunn. Ratliff was of no threat to either officers at this time.”

It’s important to know that the report was commissioned by Mushinsky, so it might be expected that it would try to show him in a favorable light. The company was retained after the Hammond mayor imposed a 60-day suspension and ordered additional training for Mushinsky upon the recommendation of then-Police Chief James Stewart.

The upshot of the whole incident was the filing of 13 serious CHARGES against Ratliff, including disarming a police officer even though Bergeron can be clearly seen placing his weapon in a locker before the fracas ever started, and resisting an officer violently. The term violently is certainly in the eye of the beholder as Ratliff, who is much smaller than either of his subduing officers, doesn’t appear to put up much of a fight.

Some people apparently are beginning to take the entire affair seriously – and not necessarily in Ratliff’s favor.

“We noted a Hammond (police) unit following us out of town today as we were leaving,” Nakamoto told LouisianaVoice on Thursday. “I got a strange phone call last night to stop digging… with an anonymous person telling me it could be dangerous. I’ve worked in this market for 13 years, and can count on one hand how many times that’s happened.”

Meanwhile, Bergeron should do the honorable thing and step down.

He’s brought enough dishonor already.