2017 Video shows a black man being mercilessly beaten up by an officer who is later appointed as Chief of Town.
An incriminating report along with a video from a booking room dust-up in 2017 was leaked to the WBRZ Investigative Unit, which raised concerns about why no action was taken against some of the policemen seen using excessive force on a handcuffed man.
The Video
The Video shows a handcuffed man reaching a bottle of his pills, and the white officers grab hold of him only to fist him cruelly.
Los Angeles: Kendtrick Ratliff, the black man, first ended up in the booking room in December 2017 after Hammond police officers saw his car illegally parked on the sidewalk. Officers approached the vehicle and took a closer look; they found a bottle of pills. Suspicious, the policemen investigated only to find that the bottle was filled with Xanax, Marijuana and some prescription drugs.
Ratliff sat in the booking room, handcuffed where the incident took place. He told WBRZ, the ABC affiliate in Baton Rouge, “I got beat, stomped, kicked in my groin”. WBRZ was the first to publish the footage. The released audio and Video raise questions as to the officers should’ve had better training.
In the booking room, Ratliff rebelliously reached for his pill bottle. Sergeant Edwin Bergeron immediately punched him five times in the stomach. He got stuck in the computer space, and still, the officers didn’t seem to have intentions to stop. Nearly 20 seconds later, a group of policemen entered the room and strangling Ratliff. Sergeant Thomas Mushinsky then lands a kick inside Ratliff’s leg.
Eventually, more police arrive, and a minute later, another officer is seen kicking Ratliff in the head with his foot. Ratliff was sombre, one of the officer’s heavy leather tactical boot was on Ratliff’s neck. Another officer kneeled on him. Out of the dozen present at the crime site, only Officer Thomas Mushinsky was disciplined.
The Report
In 2018, Thomas and his attorney commissioned the use of Force Consultants Inc, Out of McKinney, Texas to review the case. Video analyzers noted that Officers Dun and Bergeron used force that is borderline criminal.
Hammond department claimed that there was no CCTV footage at first, but it got leaked later on.
“What shocked me is that they would so blatantly lie and tell another officer of the court that the video did not exist, and it did at one point and still exists now showing what happened to my client,” Ravi Shah, Ratliff’s Advocate, said.
