State Police have released their investigative findings on why they charged LSU wide receiver Kyren Lacy with negligent homicide. Jeff Palermo has the story.
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An Iberville Parish sheriff’s deputy is shot and killed, and another is fighting for his life. Andrew Greenstein reports.
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State Police released video this morning that provides evidence on why former LSU receiver Kyren Lacy was charged with negligent homicide, felony hit and run and reckless operation of a vehicle. The video clearly shows Lacy driving at a high rate of speed and passing multiple vehicles in a no-passing zone on LA Highway 20 in Lafourche Parish moments before the driver of a Kia Cadenza, heading northbound, swerved to the left to avoid Lacy’s green Dodge Charger. When the Cadenza swerved to the left, it collided with a southbound Kia Sorento. When a State Trooper arrived at the crash scene, witnesses immediately identified Lacy’s Charger as the one that caused the wreck.
Lacy’s car did not make physical contact with the two cars that collided, but a witness said his actions forced the head on crash.
During the video, a State Trooper interviews the female driver of the Kia Cadenza who, according to investigators, took evasive action to avoid impact with Lacy’s oncoming vehicle.
Following the crash, State Police say they conducted a detailed investigation with the assistance of crash reconstruction experts. A state police spokeswoman says it was Lacy’s reckless driving that led to the crash in front of his vehicle.
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On Friday, Lacy’s attorney, Matthew Ory, appeared on HTV 10 in Houma and released a different camera angle of the crash, which shows Lacy’s vehicle driving through the scene. Based on this video evidence, Ory stated that Lacy did not cause the crash.
Ory also cited a report from the Lafourche Parish District Attorney’s Office, which did its own investigation, which Ory said concluded with the D-A saying Lacy did not know his actions were the cause of the crash that happened about 72 yards in front of him.
State Police state that their investigative findings were reviewed in consultation with the Lafourche Parish District Attorney’s Office to determine the appropriate charges, and the 17th Judicial District Court approved an arrest warrant.
The LSP report says the first phone call Lacy made, based on cell phone records, was to a Baton Rouge criminal defense attorney and personal injury lawyer.
The crash claimed the life of 78-year-old Herman Hall of Thibodaux, Louisiana. Lacy took his own life just days before a grand jury was to consider the charges against him. You can see the video LSP released today on our website, Louisiana Radio Network-dot-com.
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The full Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is reconsidering a three-judge panel’s ruling that the state’s Ten Commandments law is unconstitutional. The ruling puts on hold the law that requires all public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments. Loyola New Orleans law professor Dane Ciolino says this decision was not exactly unexpected.
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Ciolino says the state is arguing that a 1980 Supreme Court opinion that invalidated a similar law passed in Kentucky should not be used as precedent.
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All that said, Ciolino says it will be an uphill climb for the state to prevail before the full Fifth Circuit.
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Ciolino says if the full Fifth Circuit does not rule in favor of the state, there’s no guarantee that the Supreme Court will take up the state’s expected appeal.
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A sheriff’s deputy in Iberville Parish is killed and another is fighting for his life after being shot outside the parish courthouse last night. Investigators say deputies Charles Riley and Brett Stassi (STAA-see) Jr. were trying to take 27-year-old Latrell Clark of Baton Rouge into custody, but Clark fought back, grabbed one of their duty weapons and shot them before fatally shooting himself. Riley was killed, and Stassi is fighting for his life. Iberville Parish District Attorney Tony Clayton says Riley and Stassi prevented further carnage.
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Clayton says Riley and Stassi – whose father is the sheriff of Iberville Parish, Brett Stassi Sr. – are true heroes.
Clayton says this is a very hard day in Iberville Parish.