Internal affairs documents from the Hammond, Louisiana, police department reveal that Chief Edwin Bergeron was never under investigation for the 2017 beating of Kentdrick Ratliff, which contradicts Mayor Pete Panepinto’s assertion that Bergeron and the other officers involved were investigated and cleared of misconduct.
According to The Illuminator, after examining hundreds of internal documents, there was no evidence that Bergeron was investigated following the incident on Dec. 6, 2017, during which Bergeron and other white officers punched, kicked, and used a Taser on Ratliff, while Ratliff, who is Black, was handcuffed during the majority of the beating.
Ratliff was initially detained after Hammond police officers spotted his car illegally parked on the sidewalk. After the officers initiated a traffic stop, they searched inside and found a pill bottle containing Xanax, marijuana and prescription drugs.
Once in the HPD booking room, Ratliff attempted to grasp a pill bottle the police had seized from him, resulting in a physical struggle that soon became violent.
Video of altercation shows the men tussling on top of a table with one officer kicking Ratliff in the head, and another placing his boot on his neck. Bergeron punched Ratliff five times.
Ratliff was convicted of resisting arrest, and Thomas Mushinsky was the only policeman disciplined, receiving a suspension with additional training, WBRZ reported.
Several months later, the police chief position was open for third time in four years, and Bergeron was brought before the city council as Hammond Mayor Pete Panepinto’s only nominee for the role.
In a speech to the Hammond City Council in March 2019, the mayor said Bergeron had stayed with the department for nearly two decades and shown innovation and leadership, the Advocate reported.
There was some concern from local citizens about Bergeron’s history, which eventually led to two public meetings about his pending appointment.
Bergeron has a series of complaints in his personnel file, many of which involve him using excessive force for minor violations.
A 2003 incident in the parking lot of a night club, saw resident Scott Reynolds accuse Bergeron of continually striking him in the head with a nightstick and afterward citing him for “disturbing the peace.”
Two witnesses verified his account. The city still closed the internal investigation with no action against Bergeron. In the case file, they claimed Reynolds “was being deceptive” while being asked if he knew who struck him in the back of the head and “Did you see Officer Bergeron strike you on your head with a night stick?” during a lie detector test.
Reynolds had informed officers previously that he could not see who was hitting him in the back of the head.
The city opened an internal investigation against Bergeron in February 2001, after a Southeastern Louisiana University student accused him of concealing her rape and threatening her to not report it police. The woman reportedly told friends that she woke up naked in a Delta Tau Delta fraternity house with no recollection of the night before and thought she might have been drugged and raped.
A police report was never filed but the woman did relate the incident to a university counselor. She committed suicide in East Baton Rouge Parish and left a suicide note with details about the rape, bringing about the internal investigation.
In the internal affairs report, the woman told friends that an off-duty Hammond police officer named Edwin intimidated her, told her she was lying and told her if she reported the incident, he would make sure it was covered up. She was not aware of the officer’s last name but identified him as the fraternity brother of the main suspect. Bergeron acknowledged being a Delta Tau Delta alumnus but denied ever speaking to her and maintained that he knew nothing of the rape incident.
The Internal Affairs Division did not clear Bergeron of misconduct but still closed the case for lack of direct evidence.
A special Hammond City Council meeting was held on Aug. 31, to discuss the incident and Panepinto’s decision to appoint Bergeron as chief of police after the emergence of the video.
In his defense, Panepinto told the crowd in attendance that Hammond’s Municipal Fire & Police Civil Service board had investigated and discovered no violations for Bergeron and the other officers. However, as The Illuminator reported, the civil service board and the Internal Affairs Division never investigated Bergeron because Panepinto’s office would have had to agree to the probe, and the city possesses no records of such consent.
“It came back with nothing,” Panepinto said to the assembly gathered in the gym. “It went to the civil service board. The chief was concerned more with a kick in the video.”
The “kick” is a brief section in the video where Sgt. Thomas Mushinsky kicks Ratliff in either the groin or the leg. It was the only aspect that was investigated. In the end, Mushinsky received a 90-day suspension and an 18-month rank demotion as a result.
However, Mushinsky appealed the results to the civil service board, of which Chief Bergeron chaired as vice president. Mushinsky then hired the investigative firm Use of Force Consultants to examine the incident.
According to the consultants, Mushinsky’s kick was to Ratliff’s thigh, and was considered a proper distraction method within accepted levels of force. However, the consultants expressed significant disapproval towards the methods of then-Sgt. Bergeron, which they regarded as “excessive and borderline criminal.”
The report greatly assisted Mushinsky’s appeal, and the civil service board reversed the internal affairs finding.
The report, as well as the disclosure of other information surrounding the incident, prompted the city council to vote to order a third-party investigation into the beating and its suspected cover-up. On Sept. 8, council members made a formal request to the mayor to fire Bergeron, but Mayor Panepinto has declined the request.
“I stand behind my chief,” Panepinto said.
