Chief apologizes over hiring of officer who shot black man

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Rebecca Santana, Associated Press
Updated 4:35 pm CDT, Thursday, August 1, 2019

A Louisiana police chief apologized Thursday to his city and to the family of a black man shot and killed by a former police officer in 2016, saying the officer never should have been hired, at the same time his office announced a settlement reversing the officer's 2018 firing and allowing him to resign instead.

At a news conference in Baton Rouge, Police Chief Murphy Paul and a police lawyer detailed repeated problems with Officer Blane Salamoni that they said should have raised red flags long before Alton Sterling was shot and killed.

Paul was not the chief at the time of the shooting, which launched days of protests over police treatment of black people.

In particular, the lawyer, Lee Hamilton, said Salamoni had been arrested for a physical altercation prior to joining the police department, which normally would have prevented him from being hired. He also failed to disclose his arrest in his application, Hamilton said.

The chief said the Sterling shooting was part of a well-documented pattern of "unprofessional behavior, police violence, marginalization, polarization and implicit bias by a man who should have never ever wore this uniform."

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Chief-apologizes-over-hiring-of-officer-who-shot-14273347.php

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Officer Blane Salamoni, shot dead Alton Sterling

Video of Alton Sterling, as he is killed by Blane Salamoni.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2016/07/07/alton-sterling-police-shooting-baton-rouge-orig-mss.cnn/video/playlists/alton-sterling-shot-in-baton-rouge/





Alton Sterling

Rest in Peace.

[catbyte]

1. And yet they allowed him to resign which will make it easier to get a job a few parishes over.

[marble falls]

2. Sounds like the apology of a CoP who's trying to keep HIS job.

[Jedi Guy]

3. Doubtful. Per the article, he wasn't chief when Salamoni shot Alton Sterling.

What would he have to apologize for? He's not retroactively responsible for every single bad thing ever done by a Baton Rouge PD officer before his tenure began, or for every single mistake made by the department before his tenure began.

As for the change from firing Salamoni to allowing him to resign, I suspect that has far more to do with the police union and their attorneys than it does with any decision made by the chief himself.

[marble falls]

4. Didn't you see this:

"at the same time his office announced a settlement reversing the officer's 2018 firing and allowing him to resign instead."

[Jedi Guy]

5. Clearly I did, since I mentioned it in my response to you... N/T