Controversy is arising in Louisiana’s Rapides Parish as conflicting stories emerge about what happened when a local deputy shot a Black man to death during a traffic stop this month.
Lawyers representing the dead man’s family say they have received cellphone video from an eyewitness that contradicts the sheriff’s department account of the last moments before the 45-year-old was fatally shot. Now the family is calling for transparency and justice.
Facts that are not in dispute affirm that on Sunday, Nov. 6, an unnamed Rapides Parish deputy pulled over Derrick Kittling in Alexandria, Louisiana, and after being stopped the African-American motorist was shot. The incident occurred around 1:30 p.m.
After the shooting, Kittling, the brother of a high-ranking state police official, was taken by paramedics to a local hospital but died that same afternoon from injuries caused by a bullet to the head.
According to the sheriff’s office, “During the course of the traffic stop, a physical confrontation occurred between the Deputy and Kittling during which Kittling gained control of the Deputy’s Taser.”
“As the physical struggle ensued,” the report continues, “the Deputy discharged his duty weapon striking Kittling. Kittling was transported to a local hospital for treatment, but ultimately succumbed to his injuries.”
However, Ron Haley, a lawyer representing Kittling’s family, and his co-counsel, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, said they can prove there was no justification for the shooting.
According to the lawyers, they received two different cellphone videos that show the deputy had no reason to consider Kittling a deadly threat.
One of the videos has been released to Atlanta Black Star. The officer can be seen wrestling with Kittling, before aiming his gun (while the two are lying down) and fatally shooting at the unarmed man.
WARNING THE CONTENTS OF THIS VIDEO ARE GRAPHIC.
Haley is calling for the department to release bodycam footage of the deputy involved for a definitive account of what happened that day.
“Up to this point, we have not heard any information that my client had any type of contraband on him and we know that he was not armed,” Haley said. “And yet, it’s another routine traffic stop that somehow ends up with the loss of a life.”
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