A police officer in Shreveport, La., was arrested on Thursday and charged with negligent homicide in the Feb. 3 killing of an unarmed Black man, the Louisiana State Police said as it released body camera footage of the fatal encounter.
Alonzo Bagley, 43, was killed at his apartment complex after officers responded to a report of domestic disturbance just before 11 p.m. According to the Louisiana State Police, Mr. Bagley jumped from a second-story balcony and ran after the police entered the apartment. They ran after him, and about a minute later, Officer Alexander Tyler, 23, who is white, shot Mr. Bagley in the chest. He was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
Officer Tyler surrendered Thursday to face the negligent homicide charge and was held in jail for a short time before posting a $25,000 bond. He could face a maximum penalty of five years in prison if convicted.
Xavier Sudds, a brother of Mr. Bagley, said at a news conference on Thursday that their family was happy with the swift action but added that they are “still not satisfied.”
“There was no need for my brother to lose his life,” Mr. Sudds said. “My family is hurting. We’re hurting as a people. A call to justice is what’s needed now.”
He noted that his family had not heard from the city’s mayor, Tom Arceneaux, but said it was too late for an apology.
“I want Alonzo’s death to mean something at the end of the day,” he added. “I know it will happen.”
Mr. Arceneaux said at a news conference later Thursday that it was “hard for me to watch” the video. “I’m sure it was excruciating for the family,” he said, adding that he apologized for not reaching out to the family sooner.
The entire encounter was captured on audio and video.
The night of the shooting, according to a 911 call released Thursday, Tangela Bagley, Mr. Bagley’s wife, told a dispatcher that Mr. Bagley was “loaded on something” and that he was threatening both her and her daughter.
A review of the body camera footage from that night shows Mr. Bagley opening the door while holding a bottle of liquor. Mr. Bagley at first declined to let officers into the apartment but then told them he would need to put his dog away. He then walked down a hallway into a bedroom and closed the door behind him. When the two officers entered the bedroom, Mr. Bagley jumped down from a second-floor balcony to the ground. Both officers then ran after Mr. Bagley, with Officer Tyler taking the lead. Officer Tyler, who ran with his gun drawn, shot Mr. Bagley in the chest moments later.
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“Oh God, you shot me,” Mr. Bagley said, as he slumped the ground.
Officer Tyler can be heard shouting “no, no, no,” repeatedly as his partner begins CPR. “Come on man,” Officer Tyler cried. “Stay with me man.”
Mr. Bagley was transported to Ochsner LSU Health in Shreveport, where he was pronounced dead. Officer Tyler was placed on paid administrative leave.
Dhu Thompson, a lawyer for Officer Tyler, told KSLA News in Shreveport that he “was put in an unfortunate situation, he’s not cavalier about this, he’s just as shook about this incident as any reasonable officer would be.” He could not be reached for comment on Thursday evening.
Mr. Bagley’s family has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Officer Tyler. This was not Mr. Bagley’s first violent encounter with the police.
In 2019, Mr. Bagley sued the Shreveport Police Department, claiming officers had used excessive force against him while responding to a domestic dispute in January 2018.
Ronald Haley, a lawyer for Mr. Bagley’s family, said that Mr. Bagley and the Police Department had settled the lawsuit.
At a news conference on Thursday, Mr. Haley said that training of police officers remained an issue. He pointed to the speed at which the encounter went from conversation to fatality — just over a minute — and the larger “bias gainst Black and brown men” in the United States.
“Sixty-six seconds — 66 different opportunities to do something different,” Mr. Haley said, adding that “training does not take away the fear of Black and brown men.”
Mr. Haley acknowledged that Mr. Bagley had run from the police but said that “a flight is not a death sentence.”
“A flight does not mean judge, jury and executioner, and that’s what happened,” Mr. Haley said. “It’s an incident we see far too often in this state, an incident we see far too often in this country.”
Mr. Haley called on the Police Department to release Officer Tyler’s disciplinary history and for his immediate termination, as well as an apology from the city. He also called on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, an expansive policing overhaul bill targeting racial bias and use of force was named for another Black man who was killed by police.
The bill, which stalled in Congress during President Biden’s first year in office, has been back in the spotlight in recent weeks following the police killing of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who died after being beaten by Memphis police officers during a routine traffic stop. The bill passed the House in 2021 but has languished in the Senate.
“We should have one use of force policy and one national standard that all agencies go by,” he said. “That’s a starting point.”
