Man shouldn't have been charged with hate crime for yelling slurs at cops, police department says
New Orleans police officers misapplied a Louisiana law when they charged a property-damage suspect with a hate crime for yelling slurs at police, the police department has concluded.
The suspect, Raul Delatoba, was initially charged under a “blue lives matter” provision added to the hate-crimes law, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported on Thursday. He was accused of yelling the C-word and N-word at police officers after his arrest for allegedly damaging a window at the Royal Sonesta hotel. Before police arrived, he also yelled the racial slur at a security guard, according to the police report.
A police department spokesman said later on Thursday that the law has been misapplied, but prosecutors would have the final decision on charges, according to a new story by the Times-Picayune. The New Orleans Advocate also covered the police department’s conclusion.
Allison Padilla-Goodman, the regional director of the Anti-defamation League, agreed there was no hate crime because the verbal attack did not occur in connection with an underlying crime, according to the Times-Picayune. She did say that she viewed the slurs as “horrible.”
The law makes it illegal to commit certain offenses when the victim is selected because of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, nationality, age, or because of their “actual or perceived employment as a law enforcement officer, firefighter, or emergency medical services personnel.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana said in a statement that the slurs were offensive, but they were protected by the First Amendment.