Louisiana prosecutors have quietly dismissed charges against state police troopers who were recorded beating a Black motorist and hoisting him to his feet by his hair braids before bragging in text messages that the “whoopin’” would give the man “nightmares for a long time.”
The violent 2020 arrest of Antonio Harris was among a series of beatings of Black men captured on body camera that prompted a sprawling U.S. Justice Department investigation into use of force by the Louisiana State Police. It came about a year after the deadly 2019 arrest of Ronald Greene in northern Louisiana, a beating that also resulted in state charges.
“The system is rigged against people like Antonio,” said Harris’ attorney, Michael T. Sterling, who first learned about the dismissals on Friday from The Associated Press, which confirmed them in an interview with the district attorney. “The record was clear that these officers senselessly and ruthlessly beat Antonio Harris and lied about it in reports. It’s hard to understand what’s going on here.”