White La. cops won’t be charged in black man’s shooting

BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana’s attorney general ruled out criminal charges yesterday against two white Baton Rouge police officers in the fatal shooting of a black man during a struggle outside a convenience store.

Attorney General Jeff Landry’s decision came nearly 11 months after the Justice Department ruled out federal criminal charges in Alton Sterling’s July 2016 death.

Veda Washington-Abusaleh, Sterling’s aunt, was in tears after meeting with Landry.

“They said they didn’t find anything,” she said. “They said it was justifiable, what happened to Alton was justifiable.”

Landry said his office reviewed all of the evidence compiled by the Justice Department, including opinions issued by independent experts, and also conducted its own interviews of eyewitnesses to the shooting. He said he is “always mindful of the human element” in the case beyond his review of the facts and applicable laws.

“I know the Sterling family is hurting,” Landry told reporters. “I know that they may not agree with the decision.”

Citing a toxicology report, Landry also said Sterling had illegal drugs in his system at the time of the confrontation.

Officer Blane Salamoni shot and killed Sterling during a struggle outside a convenience store where the 37-year-old black man was selling homemade CDs. Officer Howie Lake II helped wrestle Sterling to the ground, but Lake didn’t fire his gun.

Federal authorities opened a civil rights investigation immediately after the shooting and released their findings in May 2017. They said Salamoni yelled that Sterling was reaching for a gun in his pocket before shooting him three times, and then fired three more shots into Sterling’s back when he began to sit up and move.

The officers recovered a loaded revolver from Sterling’s pocket. As a convicted felon, Sterling could not legally carry a gun.

Salamoni and Lake have remained on paid administrative leave since the July 5, 2016, shooting.