Parish: Lafayette
Police Department: Lafayette Police Department
Court: United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana
The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, alongside Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer US LLP and Kuchler Polk Weiner, LLC, represents Mr. Raynaldo Sampy—a Black man who was asleep and pulled from his parked truck, repeatedly thrown onto the pavement face first, and pinned down with officers’ knees on his neck, back, and legs. This brutal encounter, involving seven police officers, was in response to an erroneous report that Mr. Sampy had driven into an ice cooler outside of a convenience store—an impossibility, given that a steel guard rail protected the cooler from being struck by vehicles.
In the early morning of May 5, 2018, Mr. Sampy was sleeping in his truck in front of a convenience store when a security guard at a nearby apartment complex called 911. Although he had not seen any actual collision, the security guard reported that a Black man in a truck had driven into an ice cooler and damaged it. The Lafayette Parish Communications District, the entity responsible for operating the 911 service that is also a defendant in this case, sent officers to the scene.
Despite the presence of the guard rail that would have led any reasonable person to conclude that Mr. Sampy had not committed the reported crime, the officers immediately resorted to excessive force. Many officers participated in the violence, while others stood by and failed to make any attempt to protect Mr. Sampy from the abuse he endured at the hands of their fellow officers.
On December 18, 2023, a jury trial began in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana in Lafayette. Over the course of the four-day trial, the jury watched body camera footage of the incident and heard testimony from Mr. Sampy, the officers involved, a police practices expert, and a police trainer with the Lafayette Police Department. After 1 hour of deliberation, the jury returned with its decision, finding the officers did not violate Mr. Sampy’s Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
The decision is currently being appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
The defendants in the case are:
- Jonathan Price Rabb, officer of the Lafayette Police Department
- Brandon Lamar Dugas, officer of the Lafayette Police Department
- Segus Ramon Jolivette, officer of the Lafayette Police Department
- Asher Reaux, officer of the Lafayette Police Department
- Jordan Kamal Colla, officer of the Lafayette Police Department
- Ian Journet, officer of the Lafayette Police Department
- Lafayette City Parish Consolidated Government