Last week, Caddo Parish’s current grand jury brought
charges against four Shreveport police officers in the death
of Tommie McGlothen. Called to the scene of a disturbance McGlothen
apparently had instigated, after using force to subdue him and putting him
unsupervised into a police vehicle, he began to have medical problems and died
hospitalized a short while later.
McGlothen was black, which made him a candidate for
a narrative America’s political left increasingly had propagated that somehow, despite
considerable evidence discrediting it, that white police officers discriminate
against blacks, leading to deaths through excessive force. Adding credibility
to this particular instance was a coroner’s report that said different actions
might have prevented McGlothen’s death.
This created a campiagn avenue for Perkins, who
faces off against incumbent Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy later this fall. National Democrats accuse the GOP of a weak
response to the left’s narrative, and even blocked a bill
onto which Cassidy had become a co-author designed to improve police
training and to minimize opportunities for misconduct. Perkins had a chance to
pile on here in calling Cassidy’s efforts insufficient to address the reputed
problem.
Except, of course, that Perkins is the ultimate
boss of the indicted officers. And he can’t even use the narrative to his own
advantage, because three of the four officers involved are black. This aspect,
of course, explains why so little media attention has come to an incident that showed
genuine supposed officer disregard of the rights of a suspect compared to just
about any of the incidents made higher-profile where the left and its media
allies saw to engage the narrative ad naseum.
And Perkins will want to keep things quiet, because
the initial evidence shows the negligence of his police department. Officers
had encountered McGlothen, who suffered mental illness, earlier on the day of
his death and those on the scene were aware of his mental difficulties. For
improper policing techniques and denial of medical treatment, the jury charged
the officers with negligent homicide and malfeasance.
Perkins had been campaigning
on changes he had overseen in policing to reduce the amount of force
potentially used against suspects. He played a direct role in appointing as
permanent police chief the interim Ben Raymond, who implemented these changes –
and having to name him in politically
embarrassing fashion, when a panel to which he outsourced the job of forwarding
nominations for the permanent job left Raymond off the list, and Perkins had to
repudiate his own committee’s work by selecting Raymond.
To all the world, this incident appears as a
failure of Perkins’ administration, where instead of scoring political points it becomes a
liability. And not just in his underdog Senate campaign, but in his hopes to win
reelection as mayor in 2022 if, as expected, he falls short against Cassidy. Future
opponents can question why he and his handpicked chief let the department
inadequately train officers to deal with mentally-challenged individuals.
Making
a Senate run was a risky move for Perkins, because of several controversies
he embroiled himself into in the short time he has served at Shreveport’s helm
that could become more publicized by a statewide run. This greater level of
attention could harm his chances at a repeat of his current gig and also
creates a louder sounding board when something negative to his fortunes, like
this, comes about. Because of his Senate quest, it’s all the easier for his potential
future challengers to magnify into people’s consciousness Perkins’ culpability
on issue like this, thus creating more reason to vote him out.
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