Editor's note: This story and the attached videos include strong language and violence.
The Baton Rouge Police Department has opened an internal investigation after an attorney raised complaints last week about body camera footage from 2019 that shows officers holding down a 14-year-old boy while his mother strikes him more than 40 times with a belt.
Baton Rouge Police Chief Thomas Morse said in a statement that the officers were responding to reports that the home had been struck by gunfire.
“Officers spoke to the mother who was upset and questioning her son about the shooting,” Morse said. “The juvenile was extremely disrespectful to his mother and officers and refused to give his mother any information on the identity of the suspects involved in the shooting incident."
Morse continued: "The mother requested officers assist her to discipline her son. Officers did comply with her request and held the 14-year-old male down on a bed while the mother hit him on his rear with a belt.”
Attorney Ryan Thompson, who has sued the department in several unrelated use-of-force lawsuits, says the mother was pressured into administering the beating. He filed a formal complaint with the police, saying the case raises more questions about how Baton Rouge police handle youths.
“BRPD has a problem with abusing children, treating children like adults," Thompson said. "In fact, if they believe that you have some information, they will use any tactic to get it out of you."
Video shows Baton Rouge officers' role
Body cam video shared online and provided to The Advocate shows snippets of the profanity-laced encounter between officers, the defiant 14-year-old and his mother.
Thompson's complaint identified the officers as Adam Rhodes and Jermaine Javius.
The footage shows Rhodes grilling the teen for information about the shooting on a front porch outside the residence.
“That’s how you’re going to play it?” he asks. “I promise you if one of these people get hurt behind your bulls**t because you don’t want to tell us something, I’m f**king going to find you. You understand me?”
Rhodes climbs a step and squares up in the teen’s face when he doesn't respond.
“You think you’re tough, you think you’re hard because you run around,” Rhodes says.
The boy then nonchalantly waves Rhodes off and seems to chuckle, prompting Rhodes to point his finger and cuss at the 14-year-old: “Go ahead, smirk. I’m not your mama, laugh all you f**king want."
“That’s crazy,” the teen says.
“No, what’s crazy is your level of cowardice,” the officer responds.
Moments later, Rhodes speaks to the teen's mother.
“You got a belt?” Rhodes asks. “Undo your belt, let’s go in the house. I promise you I’ll hold his arms while you tear that ass up."
He continues: “Long as you don’t break the skin. That’s what the law says. I promise you we will hold his ass down.”
Rhodes then walks over, grabs the teen and forces him into a bedroom inside the home. The video shows the two uniformed officers yanking the teen down onto a mattress.
Rhodes holds the boy by his wrists and kneels on his back while Javius restrains his legs. The sound of swats from his mother’s belt can be heard as officers taunt the squirming boy, who still refuses to answer their questions.
“Take your lick, bro,” Javius said.
“C’mon big tough guy,” Rhodes said sarcastically. "You’re so f*cking hard.”
When the teen tries to push himself up off the bed, officers force him back down.
The teen’s mother also presses him to answer police questions, saying, “You gonna tell him what we need to know?”
“I ain’t telling him sh*t,” the teen grunts.
After striking him 42 times, the mother relented, telling officers her arm was tired.
Other excessive force complaints
Thompson, who's representing the teen in unrelated legal matters, filed the complaint with the Baton Rouge Police Department on Nov. 18. He included the 2019 videos as part of the complaint.
Thompson has been involved in several excessive force lawsuits filed in federal court that shed light on an unmarked processing facility that’s come to be known as the “BRAVE Cave.” Attorneys have described the now-shuttered building as a “torture chamber” where officers from BRPD’s former Street Crimes Unit beat, sexually assaulted and performed illegal strip searches on detainees.
Thompson said the abuse wasn’t contained to the now-defunct Street Crimes Unit and predates the early 2020s timeframe, when many of the federal claims allegedly occurred.
Thompson insists the beating was at officers' behest and the mom was pressured into acquiescing to their escalating hostilities toward her son. While Louisiana law allows parents to use corporal punishment, he argues police don't have the right.
"We have to have a real discussion about the role of law enforcement in our every day lives," Thompson said. "And we have to be careful within the community about when and how we use law enforcement. These are trained police officers. They’re not social workers or mental health therapists. This is an enforcement agency.”