Speeding, a death sentence?

[Capricejack]

What is the name of your state?Louisiana

I would like to bring your attention to a tragedy that
occurred in Calhoun Louisiana, Wednesday, May 11th. Please I'm begging
you to take the time to read the entire story. First of all, if you
know any young, sometimes irresponsible person, you know that they do not always
act in the way that we would hope they would act or make the decisions
that we would hope they would make. My nephew, Jack Wayne Byrom lll,
was driving down I-20, an officer of the State Police clocked him going
around 91, I believe. Jack did not stop for the officer. Instead he
turned off exit 108 (he lived near this exit). He did indeed stop in
the parking lot of a bar, then as the officer got closer to the car,
Jack drove off and immediately turned to the right on a county road.
McGee road, which this road is a dead end road. The Officer had already
called back up since Jack wasn't stopping, and the back up were just a
matter of seconds behind the officer. Once Jack was down this road, he
couldn't go anywhere, he was driving a small sports car, so he couldn't
do anything. Instead of the officer awaiting his back up, he went to
Jack's car. What happened next is what is unclear to us. All we know
is that Jack was shot, in his neck. The bullet entered just
below Jack's left ear, and exited out on the lower right side of his
neck. Obviously a downward motion. When it exited Jack, it shot a 17
year old boy that was with him. This boy is still sitting in O.C.C. The
stories that we heard started out that Jack had grabbed the officer's
arm and began to drag him and pinned the officer against a fence and
that the officer's gun went off. This story doesn't make sense because
Jack's car was very low to the ground, it was a 5 speed, he was still
buckled in his seatbelt, there was no fence on the drivers side for Jack
to be holding him and pinning him against the fence (this was posted on
the State Police webpage). One article stated that Jack had an
extensive criminal background as in to justify the shooting, but in
fact, the officer didn't know it was Jack driving the car, since the
license plate is registered in his mothers name. They didn't know who
was driving the car until Jack was already dead and had been CUT out of
his seatbelt. One report stated that the back up officers were driving
toward the officer when the shots were fired. If Jack was such a
threat, why didn't the officer wait on his back up. They are holding
that 17 year old kid on "obstruction of justice", because the officer
stated that he threw a large bag of cocaine out of the passenger
window. They have looked, drug dogs have searched, and they have found
nothing. Jack's car was clean, no drugs, no weapons, not even a pocket
knife. There is no way that Jack could have grabbed the officer,
steered his car, and shifted his gears at the same time. Oh, one more
important note, the all so famous video camera's that tax payers pay so
much money for, just happened to be inoperable that day. I'm just not
comfortable with the different stories that we have been given. One
news article even had a picture of Jack's car and stated that Jack had
drug the officer and that the officer's gun went off, going through the
door striking Jack. In the picture, it looks like Jack's car has a hole
in the door, but in fact, when my sister took the car back to her house,
it had a sticky round heart monitor stuck to it. With the downward
motion of the bullet, the officer was standing over him. Jack needed to
be arrested and definitely deserved some jail time, but did he deserve
death? The back up was right there, just seconds behind the officer,
Jack had no weapons what so ever, it was a sports car and there was no
way it would be able to go anywhere on a narrow country road lined with
trees, the car was searched over and over, nothing was found. I'm not
even sure what I thought might be accomplished by writing this letter
to you, but I do hope that this might be looked into. Because something
just doesn't add up. Something here is just not right. I do thank you for
your time, and I pray that this letter reaches someone that might feel the
injustice here that we feel.


**I wrote that letter just days after my nephew was killed by an LSP, who by the way is still patroling the streets. We have heard that the 17 year old with Jack was supposedly shot in the back(one bullet shot both of them), because they were preparing to exit the car as they were being instructed to do by this officer. My sister is now being told that she cannot even obtain a copy of the autopsy or a copy of the investigation reort without first retaining a lawyer. But at the same time, the lawyers are telling her that since my nephew has a child, there is nothing that she, as his mother can do about this. She isn't wanting $$, she is wanting that officer to stand accountable for shooting Jack and not following proper procedures. Is there anything she can do since he was obviously denied due process?

[stephenk]

where did you get your specific information on how the incident happened?

[Capricejack]

Louisiana**

You ask me where the information came from? Each Louisiana newspaper and tv station that ran the story had a different version, so therefore we aren't getting any concrete answers, we do not know exactly what happened or how it happened. My sister has been told since her son had a child, she can not go after wrongful death, that his child will have to, my nephew and his child's mother were divorced 6 years ago, so I do not know if she will persue this for her daughter or not. But the LSP is telling my sister that she has to retain a lawyer in order to get a copy of the autopsy and the investigation report that the sheriff's department conducted on the LSP officer. That's why we are all so confussed, because no one will give us the answers. This just happened 4 weeks ago, and my sister is still seeing this officer all around the area she lives, patrolling like nothing has happened.

[Capricejack]

Some of the specifics came from the fact that my sister has the car he was shot in at her house. The body had to be identified and the angle of the shot was obvious. The 17 year old was treated and sent to OCC (Ouachita County Corrections), and was held there for right at two weeks for obstruction of justice for supposedly throwing drugs out the car window (reported by this LSP) but no one and no drug dogs found any trace of drugs. My sister tried to bail him out so she could get some answers, but they kept telling her bond had not been set.