‘Gonna be sore:’ La. troopers boasted of beating Black man

Louisiana State Police troopers joked in a group text about beating a Black man after a high-speed chase last year, saying the “whoopin” would give the man “nightmares for a long time,” according to new court filings.

“He gonna be sore tomorrow for sure,” Trooper Jacob Brown, who was charged in the case and resigned Wednesday, texted three of his colleagues. “Warms my heart knowing we could educate that young man.”

The May arrest of 29-yearold Antonio Harris — who authorities say was beaten by troopers even after he “immediately surrendered” — bears a strong resemblance to the State Police pursuit a year earlier that ended in the still-unexplained death of another Black motorist, Ronald Greene.

Greene’s death was captured on body-worn camera footage the agency refuses to release and remains the subject of a federal civil rights investigation.

Brown, 30, who faces charges in two other excessive-force cases, had pulled Harris over for a minor traffic violation on Interstate 20 in Richland Parish when Harris reentered his vehicle and fled, State Police said.

The ensuing chase spanned 29 miles, reached speeds of 150 mph and ended only after deputy sheriffs deployed a “tire deflation device” that caused Harris to drive into a ditch, the court records show.

An internal investigation found the responding troopers, who are white, attacked Harris even though he had surrendered and “laid face down (prone) on the ground and extended his arms away from his body and his legs spread apart.”