Three Louisiana State troopers have been charged over the brutal beating of a Black motorist after a high-speed car chase.
Prosecutors say that the men dragged Antonio Harris to his feet by his braids and bragged to each other in text messages that the “whooping” they dished out would give him “nightmares for a long time.”
Jacob Brown, Dakota DeMoss and George “Kam” Harper, who are all white, were caught on body cam video kneeing, slapping and punching Mr Harris as they detained him.
But the video showed that Mr Harris had already surrendered and was facedown with his arms and legs spread during the alleged attack.
All three were arrested on felony charges of malfeasance in office in February 2021, but prosecutors in Franklin Parish decided to drop that charge.
Instead they now face misdemeanor simple battery charges over the 2020 arrest, which carries up to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine.
The state prosecution comes as a federal grand jury has been hearing testimony about the incident as the Department of Justice investigates if excessive force was used.
The DOJ could decide to bring a civil rights case over the incident.
An internal investigation in the case found that the troopers filed “wholly untrue” reports over the arrest, claiming that Mr Harris had fought them and tried to flee.
“They kept saying ‘Stop resisting’ but I was never resisting,” Mr Harris told investigators. “As soon as they got to me, one of them kneed me in my face. One of them was squeezing my eyes.”
Investigators found that the troopers had shared 14 messages in which they discussed the alleged beating using “lol” and “haha” responses.
“He gonna be sore tomorrow for sure,” Trooper Brown wrote in one of the texts, according to the Associated Press.
“Warms my heart knowing we could educate that young man.”
The incident took place after Mr Brown was stopped for a minor traffic incident on Interstate 20, when the troopers found that he had a suspended driving licence.
He then fled the scene in his Hyundai Sonata and led the troopers on a 29-mile chase that hit speeds of up to 150mph before it was ended with a spike strip to puncture the car’s tyres.
