Justice in Louisiana ?

Maybe there is some justice in Louisiana. A grand jury has indicted Scott Nugent for Manslaughter and also for Felony Criminal Malfeasance. Nugent was the police officer who arrested Baron "Scooter" Pikes (pictured above), placed him in handcuffs, and then Tased him nine times, resulting in his death.

Nugent's attorney has said that his client was following proper police procedure. But that seems very unlikely. A copy of the police department's Taser training manual says the device "shall only be deployed in circumstances where it is deemed reasonably necessary to control a dangerous or violent subject." That would seem to eliminate any situation where the suspect had already been handcuffed.

In an apparent effort to cover for Nugent's reprehensible actions, the police department said Pikes had told officers he had asthma and had taken crack cocaine and PCP. They want people to believe Pikes was out of control and died from his own medical problems. That might have worked, except the medical examiner exposed it as a lie.

According to the medical examiner:

* Pikes was already in handcuffs and lying on the ground before being Tased.

* He was shot with the Taser at least nine times, and may actually have already been dead when Tased the last two times.

* He had NO drugs in his system.

* There was no medical evidence of asthma.

The truth is there was absolutely no reason to use the Taser on Pikes. Nugent was just angry because Pikes had tried to run. The Taser was used as a torture device, and torture was it's only purpose in this incident. That torture caused the death of Baron Pikes.

Nugent could receive as much as 40 years if convicted (he has already been fired). But that is the hard part -- "if convicted". It's very hard to convict a police officer of anything, especially if the officer is white and the victim is black.

The Winn Parish District Attorney said, "It is our intention to show at trial that Mr. Nugent caused the death of Baron Pikes by Tasing him multiple times, unnecessarily and in violation of Louisiana law, and by failing to get him medical attention when it was apparent he needed it,"

I wish the D.A. luck in his endeavor, but I'll believe it when I actually hear a guilty verdict. I haven't forgotten the NYC case where an unarmed man was shot about 40 times and the jury refused to convict the police officers.