Amid the tense protests and extreme police reaction in Ferguson, MO following the officer-involved shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, the Times-Picayune in New Orleans revealed on Wednesday that a man was shot in the head at a traffic stop more than two days earlier, sending him to a hospital with a serious but not life-threatening injury. The police department never publicly disclosed the incident.
NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas apologized for failing to immediate release information on the situation on Wednesday, saying it "fell through the cracks." Serpas said he "personally authorized" a news release at noon on Monday, about eight hours after the officer-involved shooting injured Armand Bennett, who was wanted on non-violent felony warrants, but the release was never sent.
Officer Lisa Lewis fired two bullets while trying to arrest Bennett around 1:20 a.m. on Monday. One bullet struck him in the forehead—Bennett needed seven staples to close the wound. "Had he moved one way or she moved another way, there's a possibility that this could have been a gunshot to the head," Bennett's attorney Nandi Campbell said. "I think that the family is blessed that the bullet did not enter his head."
As of now, details are limited on what exactly prompted the shooting. After Officer Lewis and her partner recognized Bennett as someone who was wanted on felony warrants, they approached his vehicle and ordered that he and a passenger exit the car. At this point, Serpas claimed that in the process of cuffing Bennett there was a scuffle during which shots were fired, but Bennett's attorney disagreed. "There was no scuffle with the officer," Campbell said. "They were ordered at gunpoint to get out of the car and that's what they were doing."
Serpas concluded by saying that officers were working to determine whether the incident was captured on a dashcam or body-worn video, which patrol officers are supposed to turn on during every interaction with the public.
Even if the NOPD officer was provoked though, it's extremely concerning that the news would likely still not be public knowledge without the Times-Picayune report.
