The local branch of the NAACP on Thursday called for federal and state
investigations into the actions of nine State Police troopers and one New
Orleans police officer after a local TV station aired a video Wednesday night
showing the plainclothes officers -- all of them white -- allegedly tackling
two young black men in the French Quarter. The incident happened on Sunday in
the 700 block of Conti Street amid Mardi Gras 2013 celebrations.
"The major issue is whether or not excessive force was used,
and whether or not the civil rights of the young men were violated," said Danatus
King, president of the New Orleans chapter of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People. "There is a great concern that had those
young men been white, they would not have been treated the same way."
The video, which was aired on WVUE-TV and lacks audio, shows
17-year-old Sidney Newman and 18-year-old Ferdinand Hunt standing against a
wall. Suddenly, a group of plainclothes officers approaches. Some of the
officers tackle the teenagers to the ground.
One of the officers is shown swinging Hunt around forcefully. That
cop was a State Police trooper, according to a police source familiar with the
incident.
Later on in the video, a uniformed NOPD officer approaches the
group. She reportedly tells them she is Hunt's mother, and the officers shortly
let both men go with her.
NOPD officials did not immediately release Hunt's mother's name.
State Police Superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson said he takes the
allegations "very seriously," adding that he personally initiated an
internal investigation into the incident on Monday morning. He said
investigators would take statements from everyone involved and determine what
happened within 60 days.
"We will get to the bottom of their actions," he said.
He said he believes it is premature to comment on the extent of force used or
the circumstances surrounding the incident because the investigation was
ongoing.
Hazel Newman, Sidney Newman's mother, told WVUE that she thought
the officers overreacted, and she wondered whether race was the reason.
"Why take a child or a young man that's 130 pounds and sling
him across? Why not just walk up to him and say, 'What are you doing? What's
your name or why are you here?' That's a human being," Hazel Newman told
the station. "I would hate to think that it was because these boys were
young black boys."
Edmonson denied that race was known to be a factor in the
incident.
"What disturbs me is that immediately the race card issue
comes out," he said. "I've been involved in law enforcement for 33
years. I look at things that are right or wrong. I don't look at things as the
color of somebody's skin. Were the actions taken right or wrong? To immediately
come out and automatically say it's profiling and it's a race issue -- that's
disconcerting to make those assumptions when we don't know that to be
accurate."
He said the undercover task force was largely enforcing juvenile
curfew, weapons and drug laws.
Edmonson added he was "disturbed" by the mother's
actions.
"She doesn't even know what they're doing at the time --
they're trying to identify these two kids because they appear to be
underage," he said. "She just immediately pushes her way into it in a
very loud voice and everything. Police are affecting an investigation and
someone from complete outside comes in and grabs her son when theyre trying to
ID and talk to her son. That's not something you just do. I think we need to
find out why that happened."
New Orleans police are not investigating the actions of the NOPD
officers -- the officer with the State Police group, or Hunt's mother --
because the department has not received any complaints about them, said
spokeswoman Remi Braden.
