Excessive force claims dismissed for 2 deputies in Slidell womans arrest caught on camera

August 22, 2024

ST. TAMMANY PARISH, La. (WVUE/Verite) - The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thurs., Nov. 30, ruled in favor of two St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Deputies, dismissing all claims of excessive force in a 2020 arrest of a Slidell woman.

Deputies Kyle Hart and Ryan Moring were sued by the ACLU of Louisiana in 2021 on behalf of Telilah Perkins. The suit claimed Deputies Hart and Moring violently responded to a minor traffic violation, which the ACLU says Perkins did not commit.

On the afternoon of May 5, 2020, deputies Hart and Moring responded to an anonymous complaint about a woman driving a dirt bike without a helmet in the Ozone Woods neighborhood of Slidell, a misdemeanor that carries a $50 fine.

When they arrived on the scene, deputies said they saw Perkins on a motorcycle without protective headgear and attempted to question her in the driveway of her home. Perkins said she never rode her bike without a helmet and was on her porch, not her motorcycle, when the deputies approached, according to the lawsuit.

Each side accused the other of being belligerent and verbally abusive.

As the situation intensified, Perkins told her son and nephew to come out of the house and record the interaction with their phones. When the deputies warned the boys that they had to stay on the porch if they were going to film, Perkins said it was private property and they could film wherever they wanted, according to court documents and the videos.

Moring warned her son to “get back,” and then shoved him multiple times.

After questioning, the ACLU says deputies forced Perkins to the ground, pressed her face into the pavement, and dug their knees and elbows into her back and legs. The lawsuit claimed Deputy Hart pressed his forearm into Perkins’ windpipe while she told him “You’re choking me!”

When Perkins screamed that she was being choked, Moring stood in front of the boy’s phone so he couldn’t record what was happening, then pointed a Taser at him.

In the video, the boy can be heard saying “you can’t Tase a child,” to which Deputy Moring responds “Watch me.”

At the end of the 30-minute encounter, deputies booked Perkins into jail on two felonies – resisting a police officer with force or violence and battery of a police officer – and two misdemeanors – no proof of insurance and no safety helmet. After being released from jail, Perkins was treated at Ochsner Medical Center Northshore for injuries to her neck, back, knees, fingers, and wrist, according to the lawsuit.

She was later found guilty on a single charge of resisting arrest.

The court says video of the arrest shows the deputies used objectively reasonable force.

The court also dismissed an excessive force claim against Deputy Moring for pointing a Taser at Perkins’ son.

The court did allow a First Amendment violation claim against Deputy Moring to stand for telling Perkins’ son to film from their porch. St. Tammany Sheriff Randy Smith says his deputy was trying to secure a perimeter and intends to request a rehearing of that claim.

Fox 8 has reached out to the ACLU for a response to the ruling.

The original article article first appeared on Verite News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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