Update: 3 Cops Indicted in New Orleans Beating

Charges upgraded to state felonies for 2
Thursday, March 30, 2006
By Michael Perlstein
Staff writer
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An Orleans Parish grand jury on Wednesday indicted three New Orleans police officers involved in a videotaped beating of a retired teacher in the French Quarter, upgrading charges against two of the officers from municipal misdemeanors to state felonies.


Robert Evangelist, 36, and Lance Schilling, 29, both fired from the Police Department after the Oct. 8 incident, were indicted on charges of second-degree battery, punishable by up to five years in prison. Evangelist also was indicted on a charge of false imprisonment, which carries a 10-year maximum prison term.

Previously, the officers had each been issued a municipal summons for simple battery. While both battery charges are defined as the intentional use of force or violence, second-degree battery is committed "when the offender intentionally inflicts serious bodily injury" involving "unconsciousness, extreme physical pain or protracted and obvious disfigurement," according to state law.

The bloody confrontation was captured by at least two people with video cameras, providing graphic footage of an already embattled police department to a nation glued to coverage of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath.

Also caught on video was footage of the third officer, Stuart Smith, cursing and jabbing a finger in the chest of an Associated Press news producer, whose crew was among those taping the incident. Smith, 50, was indicted Wednesday on a charge of simple battery, the same misdemeanor charge that had been lodged against him earlier in municipal court. A police spokesman Wednesday could not determine the current job status of Smith, who already served a 120-day suspension for his actions.

District Attorney Eddie Jordan said the indictments "send a clear and unmistakable message that lawlessness will not be tolerated, whether by civilians or law enforcement officers."

Jordan said it was his decision to seek stiffer charges against the officers after assessing all the evidence in the case, including the video. A court date for the officers has not been set.

"These are much more serious charges, and they will serve as a much bigger deterrent to this type of conduct," he said. "The grand jury concurred in our assessment that this was a serious violation of state law."

The veteran police officers, all of whom had been assigned to the 8th District, were trying to apprehend Robert Davis, 64, on suspicion of public intoxication. Davis, however, said he had not been drinking and did not resist the officers. He said he ventured from his hotel to buy a pack of cigarettes when he was accosted and pummeled.

Frank DeSalvo, attorney for the officers, said the officers used necessary force when Davis began acting irrationally and resisted arrest. He called Wednesday's indictments "asinine."

"For them to come up with these charges does more to undermine law enforcement than half the criminals running around the streets," DeSalvo said. "It's terrible, and we're going to fight it. They served up this mess, and we're going to make them eat it."

DeSalvo said the false imprisonment charge against Evangelist is especially galling.

"Evangelist tried put handcuffs on a man who was resisting arrest. For them to charge him with false imprisonment is an abuse of the law," he said.

Lt. David Benelli, president of the Police Association of New Orleans, said the officers haven't been given a fair shake since the videotape began airing around-the-clock the day after it was shot.

"These officers were tried and convicted in the media before anyone knew the facts," Benelli said. "They were fired before they even had a day in court. They've never had a chance to defend themselves."

A nonprofit reform group, however, doesn't think the indictment goes far enough to curb what it described as long-standing civil rights abuses by the New Orleans officers. Seung Hong, spokesman for Safe Streets, said the indictment should be a beginning, not an end.

"We applaud the district attorney for taking this so seriously," Hong said, "but it would be a shame if these officers were used as whipping boys of the rest of the department and no major reforms came of this."

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Michael Perlstein can be reached at mperlstein@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3316.