JEFFERSON PARISH, La. — At a news conference Tuesday morning, attorneys representing the families of Modesto Reyes and Tre’mall McGee pointed fingers at the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office for what they say is a lack of transparency regarding two deputy-involved shootings, one of them deadly.
“We need better transparency and accountability,” said attorney Ron Haley.
“What we know about the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office is that it’s infected, corrupted and it doesn’t hold its deputies accountable,” said attorney Christopher Murell.
Modesto Reyes, 35, was shot and killed May 27th after Sheriff Joe Lopinto says he ran from a traffic stop, tripped and fell, then pointed a gun at deputies. Tre’mall McGee, 14, was shot March 20th after fleeing with several other people from a stolen car they were riding around in. Lopinto strongly denies his office is hiding anything. In both cases, Lopinto says if he finds evidence his deputies did anything wrong, he’ll have no trouble holding them accountable.
“I am not afraid to put one of my deputies in jail. I’ve been sheriff for three years and I’ve had to do it before in the past,” said Lopinto.
In the case of Reyes, Lopinto says he believes his deputy’s account of what happened because evidence backs it up. Some of that evidence is a short video from a Taser, shown to media outlets including WWL, which shows a man face down on the ground before turning over with what appears to be a gun in each hand. The Reyes family hasn’t seen that video. The family did have an independent autopsy done which shows Reyes was shot twice in the back, but Lopinto says that’s not the whole story.
“He was rolling over at the time. He was shot twice in the back and twice in the front. They didn’t tell you that at the autopsy,” said Lopinto.
According to the autopsy, those front shots were to the arm and leg.
“I understand that there are members of the family that would like additional answers, but I have an obligation to the job that I hold to be able to preserve evidence in any type of criminal investigation,” said Lopinto.
In the case of Tre’mall McGee, Sheriff Lopinto says state law protecting juveniles prevents him from talking about the case but does confirm McGee was unarmed and shot by a deputy. Family members say he was shot while on the ground, complying with officers.
“You should not be able to give the same cop-speak that, ‘listen, our officers did the right thing without explanation, especially when you have shot an unarmed child in the back,” said Haley.
“Anytime it works for them, they’re happy to talk about juvenile suspects in the media. When it doesn’t, they try to hide it. They try to hide their officer’s misconduct,” said Murell.
“If the kid wants to say that our deputy did something wrong, come in and give a statement and say that,” said Lopinto. “That kid was in the back yard, he knows what happened.”
Defending his department, Lopinto says evidence in both cases must be protected, which is why none of it has been made public.
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