A former Louisiana State Police officer was charged after beating a black man with a flashlight 18 times, the Associated Press reported on Friday.
Jacob Brown, 31, was indicted by a grand jury for beating Aaron Larry Bowman, 46, who sustained a gash to his head, broken ribs and a broken jaw after the 2019 traffic stop, according to the Associated Press. Brown was charged on one count of deprivation of rights under color of law, a civil rights violation.
Brown “engaged in excessive and unjustifiable actions and failed to report the use of force to his supervisors,” State Police Spokesperson Capt. Nick Manale said, the AP reported.
“Any instance of unjustifiable use of force jeopardizes public safety and is a danger to our communities,” Manale said, according to the AP. “These actions are inexcusable and have no place in professional public safety services.”
The @AP has obtained body camera video of a @LaStatePolice trooper beating another Black motorist with a flashlight. The assault happened less than three weeks after the deadly arrest of Ronald Greene and left Aaron Bowman with broken ribs and a scar on his head w/ @JZBleiberg pic.twitter.com/jtPNJZOTiw
— Jim Mustian (@JimMustian) August 25, 2021
Bowman was forcibly removed from his car by deputies before Brown arrived on the scene, the AP reported. Brown said he hit Bowman 18 times in 24 seconds for “pain compliance” to place him in handcuffs after he allegedly hit a deputy.
Body camera footage doesn’t show Bowman hitting anyone, and he denied the accusation, according to the AP. Bowman faces charges including the traffic violation, battery of a police officer and resisting an officer. (RELATED: Panel Investigates Police Unit For Potentially Targeting Black Drivers In Violent Arrests: Report)
Brown failed to report his use of force and mislabeled his body camera footage of the incident, the AP reported. The department didn’t look into the incident until Bowman filed a lawsuit over a year later.
Federal prosecutors are investigating other Louisiana State Police officials who hit and stunned another black man, Ronald Greene, who died in police custody in 2019, the AP reported. The AP obtained body camera footage of both incidents that occurred within 20 miles and three weeks of each other.
Louisiana State Police officers and their supervisors disregarded and attempted to hide evidence of police abuse, according to the AP.
“The department has previously acknowledged that it has open and ongoing criminal investigations into incidents involving the Louisiana State Police that resulted in death or bodily injury to arrestees,” the Department of Justice said in a statement, the AP reported. “Those investigations remain ongoing.”
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