Louisiana Voice

Louisiana State Police (LSP) Internal Affairs (IA) has reprimanded a state trooper for neglecting to activate his body cam during a traffic stop but otherwise cleared him from any wrongdoing despite claims by a Broussard businessman who claims one of his employees was harassed by the trooper for driving on a road past the trooper’s residence.

The IA exoneration, however, does not mean that the matter is closed.

And we know for certain by now that it’s not unprecedented for LSP to gloss over responsibility when it’s convenient from a PR standpoint.

Billy Broussard has filed a lawsuit in 16^th Judicial District Court naming as defendants Trooper Scott Michael Lopez and his son, Benjamin Cole Lopez in connection with several incidents involving alleged harassment of Broussard and his employee, Robert Earl Miller, and for what Broussard says were efforts by Trooper Lopez to unite neighbors against Broussard.

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Of course, you’d never know the names of Broussard or Miller inasmuch as the records provided by LSP redacted their names despite the fact that Broussard had filed an official complaint with LSP.

Moreover, a cover letter from LSP noted that pursuant to LSP rules, “investigations that do not result in discipline are not considered ‘public.’”

LSP, in failing for more than two years to mete out punishment to the troopers involved in the May 2019 beating death of Ronald Greene, was able to prevent the release of any investigative records in its attempt to cover up facts surrounding Greene’s death.

Likewise, LSP was less than forthcoming about an incident involving Trooper Thomas Lewis who escorted an underage woman into a Vicksburg casino.

It fell to LouisianaVoice in that case to travel to Jackson, Mississippi, to retrieve records which revealed that Lewis had been fined $600 by the Mississippi Gaming Commission in a night court session. Instead of being punished for his indiscretion, Lewis was promoted to commander of Troop F.

LSP has also refused to cooperate in any manner with former New Orleans attorney Ashton O’Dwyer who was abducted from his St. Charles Street home on the night of Hurricane Katrina and subjected to tasing and being repeatedly peppered with beanbag shots while being held illegally by state police.

In Broussard’s case, Miller was pulled over by Lopez on June 14, 2021, at about 4:30 p.m. while Miller was transporting materials to Broussard’s farm on Duchamp Road in Broussard. Duchamp Road is a public road and runs past Lopez’s home.

Lopez, parked in his own driveway completing paperwork, saw Miller go past and initiated pursuit of the truck, owned by Broussard. After pulling Miller over, Lopez, who Broussard said made no representation that he was acting in his capacity as a state trooper even though he was officially on-duty at the time, told Miller, “You better not go down my road again if you know what’s good for you” and “made it clear” that he did not want the truck “passing in front of my home again.”

A State Police sergeant indicated that the “incident should not have transpired,” according to Broussard’s petition. Broussard claims that he told the sergeant that he was “willing to chalk it up to Trooper Lopez just having a bad day.”

Minutes later, Lopez called Broussard and indicated he did not care what Broussard did on his property but that he just didn’t want Broussard’s truck passing in front of his home and requested that Broussard approach his property from the opposite direction.

When Broussard attempted to obtain an audio copy of his phone call to Troop I, he was told LSP was conveniently unable to provide audio files of phone calls for that specific time frame because the troop was “utilizing a temporary phone service on that date and all recorded phone calls have been lost and we have no ability to recover them.”

Broussard said that Lopez subsequently went “door-to-door actively recruiting residents to join his efforts to seek injunctive relief against [Broussard] to block his ability to haul vegetative materials to his property” and that Lopez was communicating with the parish president in an effort to shut down Broussard’s farming operations. The parish council did, in fact, have a cease-and-desist order served on Broussard on June 21, 2021, which ordered him to cease all activity on his own property, including “any farming, agricultural, dumpsite, and commercial activity.”

Broussard said Lopez, in retaliation for his reporting the June 14 stop to Troop I, stepped up his harassment, including appearing before the parish planning and zoning commission where he leveled several “defamatory” and untrue charges against Broussard.

Then, on April 25 of this year, at about 4:30 p.m., Lopez’s son, Benjamin Cole Lopez, followed Broussard and videotaped him with his cell phone and later attempted to have Broussard arrested for assault by St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Baily Myles Romero, Lopez’s neighbor.

The “assault” ended up as a misdemeanor for blocking the roadway and followed the incident in which Benjamin Lopez videotaped Broussard, who continued to his property and exited his vehicle with his own cell phone and took his own video of the younger Lopez as he drove past his property, turned around, and drove back past.

To give a little background on Trooper Lopez, he was first employed by LSP in September 2008 and resigned on July 9, 2013, to work in the employ of then-Iberia Sheriff Louis Ackal, who was himself a retired state trooper. Ackal, of course, had his own legal problems that included a multitude of lawsuits that resulted in millions of dollars in settlements or judgments.

Lopez worked for Ackal for nearly two years, from September 24, 2015 until his resignation on March 12, 2017. He rejoined LSP the following day.

LSP indicated in the report provided LouisianaVoice that Broussard’s claims of harassment “were not supported by the evidence…nor was there any evidence to support the allegations that you used your position as a Louisiana State Trooper to influence your neighbors…with regard to Mr. Broussard’s farming operations.”

For his failure to activate his body cam, he received a letter of reprimand.