White LA Cop Claimed Josef Richardson was Reaching for a [non-existent] Gun in His Pants Pocket but Witness Says He Only Had On Underwear When the Cop Shot Him in the Back of the Head, 2nd Suit Filed

From [HERE] and [HERE] Nearly one year after Josef Richardson was shot and killed by a West Baton Rouge Sheriff's deputy as authorities were executing a search warrant, a woman who was with Richardson when he was killed is suing multiple individuals associated with the WBR Parish Sheriff's Office, including the deputy who fired the fatal shot.

Jessica Clouatre has filed a lawsuit against Deputy Vance Matranga Jr., Sheriff Mike Cazes and a host of other officials associated with the Sheriff's Office. Richardson's family also filed a lawsuit months ago, claiming Richardson was clearly unarmed when authorities entered his motel room, as he was dressed only in his underwear when shot.

The lawsuit names a total of seven individuals and four organizations, including the Parish of West Baton Rouge. The suit, which was filed with the Middle District of Louisiana, in Baton Rouge, claims Clouatre and Richardson were both victims of mistreatment by officials with the West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office and associated organizations.

The lawsuit says the case is about, "the violation of the civil rights of Josef Richardson and Jessica Clouatre at the hands of the West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, and possibly other law enforcement officers and agencies, and its officers and leaders under color of state law."

The document goes on to claim the mistreatment continued for years, saying, "the systematic and illegal conduct existed over several years and was condoned by failures to act, passive actions, and simply ignoring obvious misconduct which ultimately resulted in the violent death of Josef Richardson, in front of Jessica Clouatre, causing severe emotional harm, fear, and intimidation, and false arrest and prosecution of the sole witness to the actions of the officers."  

In March of this year, state prosecutor Pat Magee [racist suspect in photo] decided that the white deputy who fatally shot Richardson, Vance Matranga Jr., would not face criminal charges. [the same office declined to file charges against the whote cops who murdered Alton Sterling.] The family’s attorneys tell WAFB they are concerned about what exactly investigators looked at to make that determination because the sheriff’s office does not have body cameras. They believe most of the outcome of the case depended heavily on the word of officers who say Richardson resisted several commands before being shot in the head near his neck.

"We have a civilian witness in the room who gives a completely different account," said attorney Christopher Murrell.

The deadly incident took place in July of 2019 when Deputy Matranga was working with members of the River West Narcotics Division to execute a no-knock warrant on the Budget 7 motel room Richardson and Clouatre occupied.

Upon entering the motel room, Matranga fired his gun once, fatally striking Richardson in the back of his neck. According to the prosecutors report which was based on Matranga told him, “Richardson's furtive movement of his hand to his pockets while simultaneously turning towards another officer and pulling his hand (which had in it a large bag approximately 9 grams of methamphetamine, 4.4 grams of cocaine, and 9 grams of marijuana) from his pocket, and towards the other officer, was viewed as an immediate threat to the life of his colleague, Deputy Cavaliere.”

Said report also states, “Upon arrival, the Deputies observed the door to room number 5 open and a subject known to them as Josef Richardson standing in the room with his right hand concealed in his right pants pocket.“ “Rather than simply complying with the Deputies' commands, Mr. Richardson placed his left hand in the waistband of his pants and turned his back toward the Deputies. Deputy Cavaliere holstered his handgun while Deputy Matranga held cover on Mr. Richardson with his handgun. Deputy Cavaliere took hold of Mr. Richardson in an attempt to subdue him. As the two struggled, Mr. Richardson jerked his left hand from his waistband and rapidly tumed to his right. The turning motion caused Mr. Richardson to turn in toward Deputy Cavaliere and away from Deputy Matranga. As Mr. Richardson turned, Deputy Matranga observed something in his left hand he believed to be a handgun. As Richardson continued to turn away from him, Deputy Matranga lost sight of his hand. Believing that Mr. Richardson was holding a handgun and was going to shoot Deputy Cavaliere, Deputy Matranga intentionally fired one shot from his handgun toward Richardson to stop him from harming Deputy Cavaliere. The fired bullet entered Mr. Richardson's neck and severed his cervical spine, resulting in his death.”

In reality there was no gun - no gun was found in the room and apparently there was nothing in Richardson’s hand - usually police claim a gun magically turns back into a phone or a toy or a bag of candy the second afterward a shooting. Here, cops seem to acknowledge that nothing was actually in his hand. [MORE]

Richardson’s wrongful death complaint states:

“Mr. Richardson was not armed with a weapon, nor was a weapon found inside of the motel room that he was occupied. In fact, Mr. Richardson was only clothed in his underwear when West Baton Rouge Sheriff Deputies entered into the motel room. According to eyewitness, Jessica Clouatre (who was also sharing the room with Mr. Richardson), Mr. Richardson was shot only a few seconds after the deputies entered into the room. Ms. Clouatre recalls the firearm being pointed directly to the back of Mr. Richardson’s skull before it discharged.“

Both lawsuits describes the Matranga's actions as "excessive," "reckless," and showing a "callous disregard" for Richardson's life and for Clouatre's civil rights. 

Her complaint states "Vance Matranga has stated that he intentionally shot Richardson in the back of the head. There was no legal cause to justify the use of force against Mr. Richardson, and the force used against Mr. Richardson was unreasonable and excessive. Ms. Clouatre had drawn guns pointed at her and was taken into custody, under arrest, immediately after the shooting of Mr. Richardson."