Depending on how you look at it, Raheem Howard either has the best or worst luck. On two separate occasions, Howard has had his life threatened by incompetent Baton Rouge police officers. Earlier this week, Baton Rouge police released body camera footage of an incident last year where Howard was held at gunpoint and potentially had his car illegally searched without a warrant.
WAFB obtained the footage through a public records request, though Baton Rouge police heavily blurred the video before releasing it. Nothing says innocence and transparency like making body camera footage almost incomprehensible.
In the footage, Howard is pulled over by a police officer who immediately draws his gun when approaching Howard’s car. The officer tells Howard that he received a call about someone in a gray vehicle waving a gun at people, to which Howard tells the officer he doesn’t have a weapon. The officer then handcuffs him, places him in the back of the squad car, and begins to search his vehicle without a warrant.
After searching the vehicle and not finding a weapon, the officer is heard saying, “It’s not him. My detainee’s gonna be released. It’s not him,” in the body camera footage. There are concerns that Howard’s constitutional rights were violated when the officer searched his car without a warrant.
“It certainly violated his rights, right? But at the same time, even the violation of his rights in the search that I saw wouldn’t have identified a weapon. Which kind of leads me to believe that you might have just been messing with him, right?” Eugene Collins, former NAACP president and community advocate, told WAFB.
Defense attorney Jarrett Ambeau told WAFB that the officer was justified in searching the vehicle. “The officer has to have credible information that evidence of the crime that he thinks is afoot is in the car. So this person has a gun in the car and is pointing it at other people. That’s good, credible information. He’s got no reason to disbelieve it,” Ambeau told the news outlet.
This is the second time Raheem Howard has been held at gunpoint by a Baton Rouge police officer.
According to the Louisiana Illuminator, Howard was pulled over by former Baton Rouge police officer Yuseff Hamadeh in 2018. After being pulled over, Howard reportedly immediately ran after being pulled over and Hamadeh fired off a single shot. Howard managed to get away, but Hamadeh filed a report saying that he feared for his life and fired his gun due to Howard shooting at him first.
Hamadeh’s version of events spread throughout Baton Rouge, prompting a manhunt for Howard. He eventually turned himself in but continued to plead his innocence. “They said I had a gun, I didn’t have nothing in my hand,” he told the crowd as Baton Rouge police paraded him in front of news cameras. “They got the dashcam and body camera. I got out and ran, I didn’t have nothing. I didn’t have no gun at all.”
After Howard’s very public arrest, people began poling holes in Hamadeh’s story. Witnesses reported only hearing one gunshot, and while Hamadeh had his body camera turned off and his dashcam pointed downward, his car’s rear camera only picked up the sound of one gunshot.
The district attorney refused to prosecute Howard, and Hamadeh was terminated from the police department. Not for firing at a fleeing suspect and lying about it, but for not reporting that his car hit Howard’s during the stop.
Gotta love the Baton Rouge Police Department for focusing on the real issues.
Had Hamadeh’s lies been accepted as fact, Raheem Howard would’ve faced at least 50 years in prison if he found guilty of the charges. I don’t see how anyone in Baton Rouge could have faith in their police department when they’re willing to lie to cover up potential wrongdoing, and will actively blur body camera footage to prevent full transparency.
Howard has filed an internal affairs complaint against the officer who searched his car and is currently looking for legal assistance. He understandably has trust issues with law enforcement after his experiences.
“I was praying to my higher powers, just praying in my head the whole time. Just praying, like, Allah, please just protect me,” Howard told WAFB.
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