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Shocking info about the chair of Baton Rouge& #39;s civil service board, which hears police disciplinary appeals. Remember as you read this: Robert Moruzzi isn’t appealing his firing. He is the CHAIR OF THE BOARD that hears those appeals. THREAD https://lailluminator.com/2020/07/03/we-cant-reform-police-departments-if-civil-service-boards-tolerate-abuse/">https://lailluminator.com/2020/07/0...
In 2009 Officer Robert Moruzzi, off-duty and drunk, tore up an election sign in front of a downtown restaurant. When the manager intervened, Moruzzi punched him five times in the face, drew his gun and threatened to kill him. /2
Moruzzi was charged with attempted theft, assault, battery and disturbing the peace. He was fired from the police force but was later reinstated. /3
In 2013 Moruzzi was the subject of a federal lawsuit filed by an LSU student who received a “medical welfare call” from Moruzzi. The student said he was feeling better and didn’t need to go to the hospital, so Moruzzi TAZED him twice to force him onto the stretcher. /4
In 2014, Moruzzi was the subject of ANOTHER federal lawsuit for excessive force. Serving a narcotics warrant, Moruzzi grabbed a 24-year-old bystander, forced his face to the concrete & stomped on the back of his head, knocking out his teeth. /5
The 24 year-old Brett Percle @bpercle1 sued, and a jury found that Officer Moruzzi had committed assault and battery. The city of Baton Rouge had to pay a $75,000 settlement for Moruzzi& #39;s actions. /6
A few weeks after Moruzzi bashed in Percle’s teeth, the police union gave him its “Medal for Merit.” Then it selected Moruzzi to be the officers& #39; representative on the civil service board. Moruzzi currently chairs that board and oversees all appeals of disciplinary action. /7
Moruzzi was the deciding vote to overturn the firing of Officer Yuseff Hamadeh, an officer who killed one motorist with three shots to the back. Then, a year later was found by the EBR District Attorney to have lied about being shot at before he shot at another black motorist. /8
Fr. Andrus ends his piece this way:
At the center of the national uproar over police brutality is the question of apples and orchards. If police brutality were just a problem of “a few bad apples,” then reform would be straightforward. /9
At the center of the national uproar over police brutality is the question of apples and orchards. If police brutality were just a problem of “a few bad apples,” then reform would be straightforward. /9
"Get rid of those guys. Hire better people. Train officers better. Do implicit bias training. Problem solved." /10
Officer Moruzzi’s elevation to civil service board chair prompts us to look to the orchard -- all the ways police departments have fostered a culture of brutality ... /11
all the ways systems of accountability have been distorted into tools that insulate abusive officers from consequences. /12
The point isn’t to cast blame or look back, but for all of us to say now, with a united voice: Moruzzi must resign. We must reform our Civil Service law to remove the features that insulate officers from accountability. We must not rest until we fix this broken system. /END
@TogBR has a petition calling for Moruzzi to be removed from the Baton Rouge Civil Service Board: https://www.togetherbr.org/replace_moruzzi ">https://www.togetherbr.org/replace_m...
