Bill To Reduce Reasons Why Cops Can Pull You Over In Louisiana Gets Stripped In Committee

By Greg LaRose, Louisiana Illuminator

April 13, 2023

6:00
News Story

• Criminal Justice
• Govt + Politics
• Legislative

Bill to reduce reasons why cops can pull you over in Louisiana gets stripped in committee

By: Greg LaRose - April 13, 2023 6:00 am

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A New Orleans lawmaker intended to reduce the reasons why police can stop people to ease the financial impact of ticket fees on low-income drivers. But negotiations with law enforcement stripped down the proposal to a bare-bones version that advanced Tuesday from a Louisiana Legislature committee.

Rep. Matthew Willard, D-New Orleans, had included broken tail lights and headlights, tinted windows and noisy exhausts in the original version of his bill that changed the violations from primary offenses, for which police could stop a motorist, to secondary ones. A driver can still be ticketed for a secondary offense, but the officer would need another reason to stop the vehicle in the first place.

“We do know that, across the country, traffic stops are sometimes used to support budgets,” Willard said in an interview last week. “The problem with it is, when they occur in neighborhoods that aren’t too well off, you’re basically pulling money from neighborhoods … without resources. And I think that’s a big problem in Louisiana, where we have so many people living in poverty already.”

Williard said he wrote his proposal close to the legislature’s pre-filing deadline, and he wasn’t able to meet with law enforcement until Tuesday to get their feedback. The Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association took issue with most of its provisions, resulting in a version that would change only expired inspection stickers and jaywalking to secondary offenses.

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Michael Renatza, executive director of the sheriff’s group, told Willard and House Transportation Committee members Tuesday the best way to ease the financial blow from traffic violations would be to change the law in which fees are set.

“You gotta address the fines and the fees, and that’ll be how you can help people properly,” Renatza said.

Willard said he agreed to remove broken tail lights from his bill because police said they can be an indicator of vehicles that have been carjacked. He insisted one working headlight isn’t necessarily a traffic hazard but conceded to an amendment that removed that exception.

Most people stopped for non-working headlights aren’t aware they’re broken, Renatza said, adding that many are let off with just a warning. Police consider vehicle safety “sacred ground” and wouldn’t favor changes in the law that ease these standards, he said.

In his remarks Tuesday to the House Transportation Committee, Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association Executive Director Michael Renatza incorrectly attributed the arrest of Theodore Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, to a traffic stop for broken headlines.

It was actually serial killer Ted Bundy who was arrested in 1975 for driving without headlights in Utah, where police eventually linked him to a murder. Bundy escaped twice during his confinement and was finally apprehended for keeps in 1978 when police in Pensacola, Florida, pulled him over for driving a stolen car.

Kaczynski was tracked down to a cabin in remote Montana after his brother recognized his writing in a 35,000-word manifesto The Washington Post published and tipped off police.

In its current form, Willard’s bill would keep inspection stickers that are less than two months expired from being a primary offense. Current law gives vehicle owners a 30-grace period to update their brake tags. He had originally proposed a four-month grace period, but it was shortened to two months in committee.

Committee member Rep. Ed Larvardain, D-Alexandria, asked Willard what impact his legislation would have had if it were in effect in November, when a Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Rodney Anderson pulled over Derrick Kittling for a window tint violation. The traffic stop led to a scuffle between Anderson, who is white, and Kittling, who is Black.

The fight ended with Anderson fatally shooting Kittling, who had gained control of Anderson’s stun gun, according to a Louisiana State Police investigation. Rapides District Attorney Phillip Terrell cleared Anderson of any wrongdoing last week.

Willard refrained from answering Larvardain’s question directly, saying he wasn’t an expert in law enforcement. In his interview with the Illuminator, Willard mentioned the increased frequency of police stops in neighborhoods of color but stressed the high cost of traffic fines were the inspiration for his bill.

“There’s a lot of data that shows that these types of violations occur in primarily Black neighborhoods, Hispanic neighborhoods,” he said. “There’s a concern there, too, about increased interactions with law enforcement over these minor traffic offenses.”

The transportation committee advanced Willard’s bill to the House floor with a 9-3 vote.

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The Louisiana Illuminator is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization driven by its mission to cast light on how decisions are made in Baton Rouge and how they affect the lives of everyday Louisianians, particularly those who are poor or otherwise marginalized.