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August 26, 2021

Newly Surfaced Video Shows White Louisiana Police Officer Brutally Beating Black Motorist
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In Louisiana, a lawyer for a Black motorist who was brutally beaten by a
white State Police trooper more than two years ago has obtained
body-camera video of the incident. The video from May 2019 was also
obtained by the Associated Press. It shows officer Jacob Brown striking
Aaron Larry Bowman with a flashlight 18 times. The assault left Bowman
with a broken jaw, broken wrist, three broken ribs and six stitches on
his head. Louisiana State Police waited 536 days to open an
investigation - and only did so after Bowman brought a civil lawsuit.

Last December, state prosecutors charged officer Brown with aggravated
battery and malfeasance in office; those charges remain on hold pending
a federal investigation. Brown is from the same State Police unit -
known as "Troop F" - whose officers killed Ronald Greene, a 49-year-old
Black man, by tasering, punching and dragging him during an arrest in
2019. Troop F is under an internal investigation looking into whether
white officers are systematically targeting Black motorists for abuse.


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