After the shooting, former Police Chief Jim Roberts praised the officers, saying he hoped he could perform as well in such circumstances.
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Cops shot black man in the back, eight times
by Laura Maggi July 30, 2003
On March 15, after a five-mile chase, three white Shreveport police officers cornered and killed a black man who was pointing a cell phone at them. Police say they thought it was a gun. Many black residents say they have heard this all before.
The final minutes of Marquise Hudspeth's life play out on videotape like a reality police show in which everything has gone terribly, fatally wrong.
After leading police on a five-mile car chase through downtown Shreveport, Hudspeth's Cadillac careens into a convenience store parking lot, followed by three police cars. The young black man bolts from his car and is quickly confronted by three white police officers.
Despite the video, captured from cameras inside the police cars, the next nine seconds are still a matter of dispute — and a federal investigation. But the tape leaves no doubt about two things: Hudspeth pointed his cell phone, as if it were a gun, at the officers as he stalked away from his vehicle. And the officers, after failing to subdue the 25-year-old, killed him by firing eight shots into his back.
The March 15 incident almost immediately sparked an outcry in Shreveport's black community, which has been rocked by a series of police shootings in recent years. Divisions over the shooting intensified in late April, after local investigators cleared the officers involved and publicly released the videotape.
Competing rallies have been held: one attended mostly by African-Americans who condemned the shooting, the other attended mostly by white Shreveport residents affirming their support for the Police Department. Ministers and other community leaders have called on the police to hire more black recruits in a city where more than half the population is African-American but only a third of the police force is black. They also asked the department to expand diversity training and suspend the officers involved in the shooting. The Rev. Al Sharpton, one of the most outspoken black activists in the country, has come to town twice in recent months, once to speak specifically about the incident and a month later to raise money for his presidential bid.
During the most recent legislative session, Shreveport-area lawmakers unsuccessfully sought to create a civilian review board to investigate such police actions. Controversy over that legislation prompted the city's white police chief to retire in June after he caused an uproar among black lawmakers when he sent a letter to white legislators opposing the proposed board.
Feds called in
Amid the turmoil, the Shreveport City Council asked the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct an investigation to determine whether the officers violated Hudspeth's civil rights or used the proper amount of force. The probe likely will not wrap up for several months, leaving Shreveport police, politicians and citizens with the arduous task of trying to mend the rifts between the Police Department and black residents.
At a recent community forum, interim Police Chief Mike Campbell said, "Perhaps this tragic event is an opportunity for this community to reflect on who we are. I've searched my soul for the appropriate words to begin the healing process for this department and this city."
This isn't the first time the department has been put in such a position. Video cameras were installed on the dashboards of Shreveport squad cars after four shootings in 1998 and 1999 that angered many black citizens, who questioned whether police in those cases used excessive force.
In three of the cases, black men were killed after pointing guns at officers. In another, the suspect tried to run over an officer with a car. All of the officers were cleared of wrongdoing after internal investigations, and federal investigators came to the same conclusion in at least one case.
But this incident was different, in part because of the videotape.
"Unlike previous instances, where there was always the ability on the part of the police and district attorneys to say, 'We have conflicting stories,' here we have video evidence from three distinct angles," said state Rep. Cedric Glover, D-Shreveport, who is black. "Was eight shots in the back a proper remedy to the problem police were faced with at that time?"
For Caddo Parish District Attorney Paul Carmouche, who is white, the videotape provided the answer to that question. Carmouche cleared the three officers involved after his investigation, declaring the shooting a justifiable homicide.
Though two witnesses described the incident as an execution, Carmouche said he didn't consider the statements reliable because the witnesses saw only part of the confrontation as they drove past the convenience store. Carmouche said the tape is much more persuasive.
"If it had not been on videotape, it would have gotten down to a credibility issue," Carmouche said. "The tape is the case."
Video cameras from three police cars caught various parts of the incident, starting after Hudspeth blew through a red light and was pursued for by police at speeds up to 70 mph, or about 25 mph over the speed limit. Hudspeth weaved through traffic, causing other officers to block off at least one intersection to prevent crashes.
After pulling into a Circle K parking lot, Hudspeth was quickly boxed in by the three police cruisers. But instead of giving up when confronted by the officers, he extended his arms, pointing his silver cell phone as if it were a gun. Initially, Carmouche said, Hudspeth pointed the phone at officer Michael Armstrong, who was off camera, while another officer, Denver Ramsey, approached Hudspeth from behind, grabbed his shirt and pointed his gun at Hudspeth's head.
But Hudspeth wriggled away from Ramsey and walked quickly from the officers, toward a fence at the end of the empty parking lot. Before he could get there, a third police officer, Steve Hathorn, approached from the other side. To Carmouche, this moment is critical, as it shows the officer ducking after Hudspeth turns around and again points his cell phone at one of his pursuers.
The officers blast away, firing 15 bullets at Hudspeth's back in just a few seconds. Eight of the bullets found their target, killing Hudspeth.
Critics find fault
To critics of the department, the fact that police fired only at Hudspeth's back highlights the department's most obvious failure.
"None (of the bullets) entered this man's body from the front. He was walking away," said state Rep. Ernest Baylor, D-Shreveport, who is black, as he watched the video from one of his offices not far from the site of the shooting.
Baylor acknowledged that Hudspeth acted in an "unusual" manner for someone surrounded by armed police officers, citing the way he brandished his cell phone. But Baylor maintains that the officers overreacted. "There could have been something used besides deadly force," he said.
If a suspect is walking away from police officers, state law says they cannot shoot, said Wade Schindler, an adjunct professor at Tulane University who also testifies as a criminal justice expert in excessive force lawsuits.
But Schindler said an officer's situation can change if a suspect turns around and points an object at him. Ultimately, an officer is allowed to use deadly force only if he believes his life or somebody else's is in danger, Schindler said.
After viewing still photographs from the video, Schindler said the incident raises several questions: Why didn't the officers quickly subdue Hudspeth with mace or another nonlethal substance? Was Hudspeth on drugs or alcohol? Was there enough light in the parking lot for the officers to tell the difference between a cell phone and a gun at short range?
Though Hudspeth's body was tested for drugs and alcohol, Shreveport officials won't release the results, citing the pending federal investigation. Hudspeth's wife, Lekesha, and her attorney also declined to comment on Hudspeth's state of mind during the incident.
Officers lauded
After the shooting, former Police Chief Jim Roberts praised the officers, saying he hoped he could perform as well in such circumstances. He also publicly speculated that Hudspeth had committed "suicide by cop" because he was distraught over his crumbling marriage and job problems, a theory later echoed by the district attorney.
Just a month before he was killed, Hudspeth was fired from his job at a marble-product manufacturer in Bossier City, Carmouche said. Later that night, records show, he was arrested and charged with aggravated assault after his wife filed a complaint with the Bossier City Police Department, saying he had pulled a gun on her.
The couple's problems continued to mount. On the day of the chase, Hudspeth's wife told investigators that her husband was upset because she had just kicked him out of the house over his involvement with another woman. While Hudspeth was trying to elude the police, he was talking to his wife on his cell phone, Carmouche said, noting that she reported he had been crying.
Hersy Jones, one of Lekesha Hudspeth's attorneys, said the video does not suggest his client's husband was trying to end his life by provoking police officers.
"That would apply if he had rushed them," Jones said. "But he ran away."
Even if Roberts is right, James Pannell, president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the police should have been able to defuse the situation.
"Some people get up on bridges and try to commit suicide," Pannell said. "You don't walk up and push them off."
The department's critics are also incensed that the officers involved in the shooting were allowed to watch the videotape before making formal statements about what happened. Pannell said it makes the local investigation appear like a cover-up.
Carmouche agreed that is not the best way to conduct an investigation, in part because it lends credence to speculation that the officers were coached on their answers. But he said the decision was made by the city attorney's office, not his office. City Attorney Ramon Lafitte said he doesn't know when the officers watched the video.
Roberts' defense of the officers and his remarks about Hudspeth's possible motivation outraged some in the black community, and it prompted the city's three black city council members to ask for his resignation. He stepped down two months later, saying it was necessary for the city and the department to move forward.
Deep-seated concerns
Despite the change in leadership, several black ministers said the department's problems extend beyond Roberts, saying there needs to be a thorough examination of policies and personnel. "The root problem has always been excessive force," said the Rev. Carl Franklin, pastor of the Fountain of Life Kingdom Church.
At a recent community forum during which police officers gave citizens an overview of their policies concerning use of force, some audience members stood in line for hours to complain about the department. Several echoed Franklin's views, while others criticized the department for not having enough black officers on the force.
Stephanie Lynch, head of a local neighborhood association, asked why just 72 of the department's 328 officers who work the streets are African-American, in a city where black people hold a slight majority. While there are 24 black lieutenants and 29 black sergeants, there are no top-ranking black officers, such as assistant chiefs or captains.
"To have that number in a city of 100,000 black citizens, and to have four hours of diversity training, that's crazy," she said.
Though officers wouldn't directly discuss the Hudspeth case at the forum, they defended their tactics, saying they have been trained to respond to hostile individuals without pulling their guns. In most cases, they said, a situation can be defused verbally or with minor physical contact. "We don't arbitrarily go out and use force," said Sgt. Willie Shaw, who is black.
Officers said police opt for lethal force only when they perceive the highest level of danger. "If an officer perceives 'I'm about to die,' you have to do something besides verbal direction," Shaw said.
But some audience members were skeptical.
The Rev. Michael Brown, a pastor at First Baptist Church of Cedar Grove, drew calls of "That's right!" when he said, "I think it is good for Sgt. Shaw to say things, but out in the community it is different."
After the forum, Campbell, the new chief, said his department clearly needs to mend fences, perhaps by increasing the amount of diversity training officers receive each year and recruiting more black officers. Campbell also supported the idea of creating a civilian monitoring board to handle future incidents. He noted that by the end of the meeting, audience members were less critical and offered more constructive suggestions.
"I think despite a tragedy, it has been an opportunity for the city to look in the mirror and see where we have to go," said Campbell, a veteran white officer who previously was in charge of the department's training academy. "Obviously, there are some issues. We need to make some headway as far as reconnecting."Originally published by
New Orleans Times-Picayune
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