Court Opinion

ID: 9780390
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 01:55:58.459837+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:34:04.123369
License: Public Domain

HUGHES, J.,
dissenting.
|TI respectfully dissent.
The deputies asked permission to enter Ms. Bellanger’s home because they believed a suspect from a crime committed approximately 6 hours earlier might be inside. Ms. Bellanger did not give permission. The deputies went in anyway and saw the suspect and an infant child. They ignored the child and laid hands on the suspect, known to them to be dangerous. The child died in the resulting shoot-out. All shots in the direction of the child came from the deputy that fired.
The actions of the officer after he was shot are not the issue. The child should have been secured before the suspect was apprehended. Police officers are charged with protecting the public. Apprehension of criminals must yield to this primary duty.
The actions of the officers are completely understandable and difficult to criticize, yet the child should have been secured. Therefore, I believe the officers bear some responsibility for what happened, as set forth by Judge Gaidry in his well-reasoned dissent.