Alton Sterling Shooting: Cop Howie Lake II Shot Black Suspect In Earlier ‘Use Of Force’
Howie Lake II, a 29-year-old Baton Rouge Police Officer involved in the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling early on July 5, was part of another police shooting of a black suspect less than two years ago, according to a report by WAFB TV News in Baton Rouge.
Sterling, 37-years-old and a father of five, was shot and killed in an encounter with two Baton Rouge cops early on Tuesday, as he was engaged in his usual activity of peddling music CDs outside a convenience store at 2112 North Foster Drive in Baton Rouge, after the officers responded to a call of a man with a gun there.
Video of the killing appears to show that the officers, Lake and Blane Michael Salamoni, 28, had the man pinned to the ground when the fatal shots were fired.
Pics of Baton Rouge police officers Blane Salamoni, 28, & Howie Lake II, 29, involved in killing of Alton Sterling pic.twitter.com/RoGmYlatjR
— Jon Swaine (@jonswaine) July 6, 2016
According to a report in The New Orleans Advocate newspaper, Salamoni was the officer who actually fired his service weapon, killing Sterling, but police have not yet released an official finding as to which of the two officers, Howie Lake or Blane Salamoni, actually opened fire.
The New Orleans Advocate cited “a source with knowledge of the shooting investigation” for the information that Salamoni was the officer who pulled the trigger. In the cell phone video of the shooting, which has been viewed millions of times on the internet since Tuesday, the other officer — Howie Lake II — can be seen removing an object from the pants pocket of their victim.
That object has been claimed in some media reports to be a gun belonging to Sterling.
In the following video, Baton Rouge Police Chief Carl Dabadie names the two officers involved in the deadly encounter and gives further details on the tragedy.
But despite Salamoni and Lake having been officers with the Baton Rouge Police Department for only four years in Salmoni’s case and three years for Lake, both have been subjects of complaints for excessive force — all of them involving black suspects.
In December of 2014, Howie Lake II was one of six officers named as part of an incident in which 28-year-old Kevin Knight was shot and wounded.
The shooting of Knight took place, according to the WAFB account, after Lake and the other officers responded to a domestic disturbance call.
According to court documents cited by the Associated Press, Lake told investigators that he fired six or seven times as Knight brandished a gun which he refused to drop, threatening to kill himself as well as pointing the gun in the direction of the officers.
Knight survived his wounds and is scheduled for a trial in August.
#AltonSterling and his family. pic.twitter.com/ycLxGu8I9q
— Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) July 6, 2016
Howie Lake was placed on administrative leave after the shooting of Kevin Knight, as he has again been, following the killing of Alton Sterling. But according to the AP, the court records do not indicate whether or not Lake was disciplined in the Knight shooting.
Both Lake and Salamoni reportedly told East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore that they believed themselves to be “completely justified in using deadly force” in the Sterling slaying, but Moore has made no ruling on their claimed justification.
A second excessive force complaint against Howie Lake II also involved a black suspect, a juvenile, in April of 2014. The juvenile was injured in a struggle with Lake.
MORE ALTON STERLING COVERAGE FROM THE INQUISITR:
- Was Alton Sterling Killed Because Of Someone Else’s Wrongdoing? Here’s The Plot Twist You Haven’t Heard About
- Alton Sterling’s Kids Will Go To College: 20,000 People Help Raise $600,000 In One Day For Grieving Family
- BRPD Officers’ History With Use Of Force Raises Concerns About Charges For Alton Sterling’s Death
- Mischa Barton Slammed For Ridiculous Tribute To Police Brutality Victim Alton Sterling
- Minnesota Man Shot Dead By Police Less Than 24 hours After Alton Sterling Was Fatally Shot
Blane Salamoni reportedly punched a suspect in the face in August of last year, and in June of 2015 was involved in a vehicle pursuit that resulted in injury to a suspect. Both injured suspects were black men in the Salamoni incidents as well.
Whether the previous violent incidents involving Officers Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II were part of a pattern of excessive force against black suspects by the officers leading up the shooting of Alton Sterling, or were simply coincidence, has yet to be determined.
[Featured Photo By Craig Ruttle / Associated Press]
