The video captures the trooper telling the man why he was pulled over, the inoperable taillight. The man said it was taped over after it was damaged at a car wash. After a series of questions related to which car wash, the trooper asked the man for his driver’s license.
The driver replied that it was in his car, and the trooper asked if there were any weapons in the car. The man told the trooper no.
As the trooper and motorist walked toward the driver’s side of the car, the trooper smelled the odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle and also observed a semi-automatic handgun with an extended magazine on the driver’s floorboard.
The trooper ordered the man to turn around, began placing him in handcuffs, and informed him he was being detained. The video shows that as the trooper attempted to detain him, the man forcefully resisted and lunged into the vehicle and reached towards the gun.
Knowing there was a gun inside the vehicle, the trooper continued attempting to gain control of man's hands inside the vehicle. Within moments, the man put the car in drive and began to aggressively accelerate while the trooper was still partially inside the vehicle.
At that moment, the trooper feared the man would gain control of the pistol while he remained trapped inside the driver's compartment while being dragged. The trooper drew his firearm and fired multiple rounds at the driver while disengaging from the moving vehicle.
The man fled from the initial stop location, and the trooper pursued him for about 1.5 miles until the car came to a stop.
At that second location, the trooper continued to issue verbal commands while waiting for backup officers to arrive. When other officers arrived, they found the man inside the car had sustained critical injuries and administered CPR. He was taken by EMS to a hospital, where he was pronounced deceased.
Deputies found a handgun discarded in a ditch along the edge of the road between the first traffic stop location and the spot where the car stopped a second time.
The firearm collected matched the description of the gun the trooper previously observed under the driver's seat, according to state police. Forensic testing conducted at the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab directly linked the recovered firearm to the man. It was later discovered that he was prohibited from lawfully possessing a firearm due to previous felony convictions.
