INDReporter

Suit filed against Iberia Sheriff over Victor White III's death

A federal wrongful-death lawsuit has been filed against Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal and one of his deputies over the bizarre shooting death last year of Victor White III while in the backseat of a patrol car.

Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal

A federal wrongful-death lawsuit has been filed against Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal and one of his deputies over the bizarre shooting death last year of Victor White III while in the backseat of a patrol car.

The lawsuit filed Friday alleges that White’s death was the direct result of Ackal’s alleged failure to properly train his deputies. The suit also alleges that use of force and unreasonable searches are tolerated within the office, without repercussions for offending deputies. Also named in the suit is Cpl. Justin Ortis, the sheriff’s

Victor White III

deputy who arrested White on the night of his death on March 3, 2014. The Iberia Parish sheriff’s and coroner’s offices claim White killed himself, though both accounts differ, with the sheriff’s office claiming White, despite being cuffed behind his back, pulled a gun missed during two previous friskings and shot himself in the back. The coroner’s report, however, states that White shot himself through the chest. White’s family rejects both of these conclusions.

Friday’s lawsuit was filed on behalf of White’s toddler and girlfriend, Shandell Bradley, by Monroe attorney Carol Powell Lexing — known for her role in the Jena 6 case. Lexing has also requested the court’s permission for civil rights powerhouse Benjamin Crump — the Florida attorney who represented the families of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown — to enroll as counsel in the case. Crump is also representing the family of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy who was shot and killed last year by a Cleveland police officer over playing with a toy gun in a public park.

According to this report from the Advocate:

Bradley’s suit was filed days before the one-year statute of limitations was reached.

Among the allegations lodged against Ackal in the suit is that he hires and retains deputies “with demonstrable propensities for excessive force, violence, negligence and other misconduct,” tolerates that conduct and encourages his deputies “to believe that they can violate” people’s rights without adversely affecting their employment or opportunities for promotion.

A dollar amount related to funeral costs, emotional distress and the loss of both White’s financial support and emotional care of the child was not specified in the suit, but it requests “an amount sufficient to make an example of those Defendants and to deter future misconduct.”

For more on this story, click here and here.