Video shows Lousiana trooper beat Black man 18 times with flashlight

Aaron Larry Bowman broke down in tears when he first saw body-camera video of the May 2019 traffic stop during which a Louisiana state trooper struck him 18 times with a flashlight.

For more than two years, it was unclear if footage of the beating existed. But on Wednesday, a recording of the incident emerged.

The footage, first published Wednesday morning by the Associated Press, shows Jacob Brown, a state trooper with Louisiana State Police, run toward a scene where multiple police officers had piled on top of Bowman, attempting to arrest him. Brown then repeatedly beat Bowman with a large flashlight, yelling, “Stop resisting!”

“I’m not resisting!” Bowman said multiple times. In the video, Bowman can be heard telling officers he was on dialysis.

Bowman, 46, ended up in the hospital with three broken ribs, a broken wrist and deep cuts to his head that required as many as nine staples, his civil attorney, Donecia Banks-Miley, told the Post. The AP reported that state police did not investigate the beating until more than a year after it took place.

State police did not respond to a request for comment from the Post. But the agency told the AP that Brown, the trooper who is shown on camera beating Bowman, “intentionally mislabeled” his body-camera video and did not properly report his use of force against Bowman. The agency added that Brown “engaged in excessive and unjustifiable actions.”

Brown, who resigned in March, has been involved in 23 use-of-force incidents since 2015, with 19 of them involving Black people, the AP reported, citing state police records. In Bowman’s beating, he has been charged with second-degree battery and malfeasance, according to the wire service. Brown’s attorney did not immediately respond to questions from the Post.

Brown has been charged in two other incidents involving traffic stops of Black men, according to the Advocate. Following one of the incidents, which took place in May 2020, Brown reportedly joked with other troopers about beating the man, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by the Advocate.

“He gonna be sore tomorrow for sure,” Brown reportedly wrote in a group text message.