The Baton Rouge Police Department held their yearly awards banquet and handed out awards to two officers who were involved in the shooting deaths of Calvin Toney and John Frazier along with a commendation for Robin Ducote, who was caught last year on video plotting to fudge police reports to support the probable cause needed to search a vehicle.
Darrel Carter Jr. was awarded a metal of valor for his part in the fatal shooting of Calvin Toney on November 12, 2017. Police say Toney gained control of Carter’s Taser and he was forced to shoot.
From The Baton Rouge Advocate:
“According to the award nomination, the suspect tried to run away from Carter before a physical struggle ensued between them and Carter used his stun gun on “several times with no effect.”
“The subject was then able to gain possession of the taser at which time he aimed and attempted to deploy it towards Officer Carter’s head,” the award read. After several loud commands to drop the stun gun, the individual lunged towards Carter with the stun gun in his hand. Due to Carter’s “quick actions and skill in assessing the imminent threat, he was able to draw and discharge his service weapon, firing a shot into the chest of the individual. After a foot pursuit, Officer Carter was able to take the individual into custody and secure the scene.””
Yusef Hamadeh also received a Metal of Valor for shooting and killing a suspect who was allegedly pointing a gun at him. The suspect, John Frasier, was is alleged to have jumped out of a vehicle during a traffic stop pointing a gun. Frazier was the passenger in the stopped car. The driver was not cited or arrested and it is still unclear why police pulled the vehicle over. Police also have been tight lipped about whether video of the shooting exists.
“There has not been an official announcement about the outcome of those investigations. At a December 2017 announcement regarding a November 2016 fatal shooting, Moore had not yet made a public decision on the Hamadeh or Carter cases.
A committee consisting of five members of the Baton Rouge Police Department select the award winners from nominations made starting in February.Paul said he looked over the award list in advance, but did not look into the officers’ discipline records.
“I assume that they’ve been concluded,” Paul said. “There’s a committee there that made recommendations. I assume that the committee did their due-diligence. If not, then I’ll make sure that I address that later.””
Before concluding the ceremony the department took time to present Robin Ducote with a Certificate of Commendation for her outstanding work as a police officer. You may remember Ducote from a video that surfaced in March of her planning to illegally search a vehicle and fabricate the report. Ducote was placed on restrictive duty after WBRZ posted the video.
The video, which is a part of a juvenile investigation, would likely have never been seen by the public had it not been leaked to the station.
Police department members make up the committee to select the recipients of the awards from nominations they begin receiving in February. The committee includes Sgt. C. Bryan Taylor, Sgt L’Jean McKneely Jr., Sgt Don Coppola Jr. and Cpl. Hallie Jones.
You may recognize the name of Sgt. C. Bryan Taylor who is the current president of the police union in Baton Rouge. Taylor is currently under investigation for protocol violations that allegedly occurred during the aftermath of the Alton Sterling killing. Read more about that here.
