Louisiana police under fire for holding down black teenager while mother slaps him allegedly to make him rant at officers, shocking video

Two Baton Rouge police officers are under investigation for playing an energetic role in disciplining troubled youth.

The 2019 incident was caught on tape, prompting the beaten teen’s attorney to file a criticism with the department’s internal affairs division. A Baton Rouge television station obtained the audio, which begins with Officer Adam Rhodes questioning the 14-year-old concerning the shooting that occurred at his residence the night before.

When Rhodes asked him what he knew, the teenager dismissed him with a chuckle, clearly irritating the officer.

“Think you are tough. You think you are tough,” Rhodes tells the boy. “Come on, smile. I’m not your mom, laugh as much as you would like Rhodes said.

The video then cuts to a bedroom in the home, where Rhodes instructs the teenager to “put your hands on the bed like I told you.” Officer Jermaine Javius ​​grabs his legs and his mother administers 40 belt lashings to his back, only stopping because her arm is drained.

The query is who initiated the spanking. Police say the mother asked them for assist in punishing the boy.

In an announcement, Baton Rouge Police Chief TJ Morse said: “The mother asked officers to help discipline her son. “The officers complied with her request and held the 14-year-old male down on the bed while his mother hit him in the back with a belt.”

Morse said the officers weren’t punished because they did nothing incorrect.

But Ryan Thompson, the 19-year-old teen’s lawyer, said officers coerced the boy’s mother into spanking him. In the recording, Rhodes could be heard asking his mother if she has a belt.

“Unfasten your belt. Let’s go into the home. I promise I’ll hold his arm while you tear up that ass. I’m not kidding at all. Don’t cut the skin below the waist – that is what the law says.”

However, punishment was not the officers’ top priority; their real motivation for spanking was to get the boy to talk to them – they couldn’t spank him, but his mother could.

The officers not only restrain the boy, but even mock him. One of the officers could be heard telling the teenager to “get treatment.”

After the spanking, the teenager’s mother admonishes him to tell the officers every thing he knows. At the top of the video, the boy is seen sitting at a table, seemingly ready to talk.

“Under no circumstances will courts authorize officers to detain a 14-year-old child victim in the name of obtaining information,” Thompson said. “We have seen this before where people were taken to a warehouse where they were interrogated, beaten and tasered, all within the name of providing information. The same applies to this person. He is the victim.

Reaction on social media it seemed that he would favor the policemen. One Instagram user commented: “I think this is probably the most productive thing the police have done in a long time.”

Another said: “Give them a raise. Many mothers who have problems with their sons would appreciate this.”

But not everyone was on board. One Instagram user admonished other commenters for supporting the police officers’ actions.

“Whaaa, people in the comments say it’s not bad!!!” she said. “As a mother you protect your child!! Don’t stand up to him w. two white guys and LET them hold him down!? This is traumatic asf!”

“He will never forget this,” she continued. “It could have been solved completely differently! This is the solution to everything!”