Patterson police chief, mayor call for investigations

Police Chief Patrick LaSalle and Mayor Rodney Grogan are calling for outside investigations of each other's actions. LaSalle wants an investigation into alleged abuse of power, while Grogan wants an investigation into alleged abuse of grant money.
LaSalle's call for an investigation comes after Grogan temporarily revoked Patterson Police Cpl. Kevin Stewart’s police commission effective Wednesday through Nov. 30 “due to ongoing insubordination and disrespect" toward Grogan, according to a letter LaSalle received from Grogan.
Grogan announced Stewart's revocation Tuesday, a day after Stewart allegedly stopped Grogan for a speeding violation while on traffic safety enforcement duty in the area of Catherine Street and Third Street. LaSalle says Grogan left the scene of the traffic stop without allowing Stewart to say anything to him.
LaSalle said Grogan's action is retaliation against Stewart for conducting a traffic stop on the mayor.
Grogan said he doesn't abuse his power, but isn't going to be disrespected.
Grogan said he could not comment specifically on the incident, but said that revocation stemmed from ongoing problems he’d had with Stewart for a while.
Officers working traffic safety enforcement duty are paid as part of a federal grant the city receives.
Grogan says the officers working duty in the Catherine Street area are operating an unauthorized checkpoint and “speed trap.”
Grogan has contacted the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission to conduct an investigation into alleged abuse of the federal grant that was awarded through the commission.
Grogan says officers have been doing daily vehicle checkpoints "at any time," instead of designated times, and mainly to write speeding tickets, not the intended purpose of the grant, he said.
The grant is supposed to be used for specific traffic enforcement campaigns, including seat belt checks and impaired driving campaigns, Grogan said.
LaSalle said he plans to communicate with all “investigative branches of law enforcement" in regard to what he says "a misuse of power" by Grogan in regard to Monday’s incident with Stewart.
In September, Grogan received an opinion he requested from the state attorney general in regard to his authority to issue and revoke police commissions.
The opinion stated that the mayor has the ultimate authority to issue or terminate police commissions and hire and fire city and police employees, though attorney general's opinions are issued for advisory purposes only, according to the office's website.
According to a report LaSalle provided to The Daily Review, Stewart, along with Assistant Chief Gary Stevenson, Officer Rebecca Hayes and Sgt. Linda Span were on duty related to the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission grant Monday on Catherine Street.
At about 6:30 p.m. Monday, Span reported a vehicle traveling 32 mph in a 25 mph zone passing Stevenson’s unit, the report said. Stewart said that he walked around to the front driver side of his unit, and the radar detective determined the vehicle was traveling 34 mph, the report said.
Stewart began pursuing the vehicle with his police overhead lights and siren on while traveling on Catherine Street headed toward Main Street, the report said. The vehicle turned left onto Third Street, and Stewart contacted the police dispatcher to advise her that the vehicle was refusing to stop, the report said.
Before the dispatcher answered the radio, the driver of the vehicle slammed on the brakes, and a man “jumped out of the vehicle hollering,” the report stated.
After recognizing the driver was Grogan, Stewart told the dispatcher to disregard his prior message and turned off the police unit lights, the report said.
Stewart's report stated that Grogan walked up to the police unit yelling and telling Stewart to turn off the lights multiple times. The report also said that Grogan said “to stop messing with me.” Grogan then walked away, got in his vehicle and drove off, the report said.
Stewart said in the report that he was never given the opportunity to talk with the mayor.
LaSalle says if the mayor had been anyone else, he would have been taken to jail for fleeing the scene. But the officer was too intimidated to pursue Grogan’s vehicle, LaSalle said.
In regard to the alleged abuse of federal grant money, Grogan said the grant the city receives annually is intended mainly for seatbelt check campaigns and impaired driving check campaigns, Grogan said.
The city received $23,000 from the grant last year to be used from Oct. 31, 2015, through Nov. 1, 2016, but Grogan expects the city will have spent $6,000 to $7,000 over that amount for officers working under the grant, he said. The city's budget will have to absorb those costs, Grogan said.
Officers are paid $25 an hour for traffic enforcement duty and are supposed to move around the area to look for violations based on the purpose of the campaign, Grogan said. But that has not been happening, Grogan said.
According to a document Grogan provided The Daily Review, no hours were planned for speed enforcement in the grant, but most of the tickets are being written for speeding violations, Grogan said.
LaSalle said officers involved are allowed to and should enforce traffic laws while on traffic enforcement duty, regardless of what the type of violation may be.
Grogan also said that when multiple officers are working traffic enforcement duty, each officer has been writing a ticket to each person ticketed for the same offense.
LaSalle said all officers working together under the grant program are required to record each ticket issued, but that doesn't mean the multiple records of each ticket are actually separate tickets.
Additionally, Grogan said Stevenson should not be doing traffic enforcement duty as part of the grant because he's not eligible to get overtime pay as an executive exempt employee.
LaSalle said Stevenson and any other Patterson officers are eligible to work traffic enforcement under the grant because the overtime rule doesn't apply to grants.
When asked to speak with Stewart about his account of the traffic stop Monday involving Grogan, LaSalle said Stewart has an attorney, and Stewart is unable to comment on the incident.
An attempt was also made to reach an official with the state highway safety commission, but The Daily Review had not received a call back as of 8 a.m. Friday.