Louisiana State Police agree to pay settlement to Lyle Dotson for violation of his constitutional rights in October 2015 stop and arrest in New Orleans French Quarter.
Attorneys for Lyle Dotson, who was unlawfully stopped and arrested in the French Quarter in October 2015 by Louisiana State Troopers, announced that the State Police have agreed to settle Dotson’s civil rights lawsuit. “This is not a ‘cost-of-defense’ settlement,” said Jim Craig, Director of the Louisiana office of the MacArthur Justice Center and one of Lyle Dotson’s attorneys. “Lyle plans to use the settlement to pay for his college education.”
Dotson sued Louisiana State Troopers Huey McCartney, Calvin Anderson, Tagie Journee, and René Bodet for violations of his constitutional rights during a seizure and arrest in the French Quarter on October 7, 2015. Lyle, a Black high school senior, was accompanying his father, Olon Dotson, a professor of architecture at Ball State University in Indiana, on a school tour of the Southeastern United States.
Lyle had never been arrested before. But less than an hour after he arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana State Troopers accused him of following an undercover narcotics officer. Lyle was immediately handcuffed, detained, and questioned. Even after his identity and lack of criminal history were confirmed, Lyle remained handcuffed. Trooper McCartney and the other troopers detained and kept Lyle handcuffed only to try to take a photograph of him. When Lyle objected to the photograph, McCartney accused Lyle of kicking him and arrested him for battery of an officer. Troopers McCartney, Anderson, and Journee marched Lyle through the streets to a police station. Lyle was taken to Orleans Parish jail and kept there for 36 hours. The charge against Lyle was ultimately dismissed.
The case went to trial in January 2018. Lyle Dotson won a partial victory when the jury found that Trooper McCartney violated Lyle’s Fourth Amendment rights when McCartney kept Lyle handcuffed just to photograph him.
After the trial, United States District Judge Susie Morgan granted a new trial to Lyle Dotson against all four Troopers, because “Defendants’ peremptory strike of Juror Henderson evinced purposeful racial discrimination.” The settlement was negotiated in the wake of this ruling.
Craig, with Emily Washington of MacArthur and civil rights attorney Elizabeth Cumming, hailed the trial and settlement as vindication of Lyle Dotson’s rights. At trial, when asked why he brought the lawsuit, Lyle testified, “I have nothing against these officers. I just feel like, in my heart, that I'm doing the right thing. I feel as if a lot of bad things happen to a lot of people, and I feel like we shouldn't do these things to each other.”
“Lyle demonstrated his integrity, courage, and strength of character in his willingness to come back to New Orleans to challenge the oppressive State Police tactics in court,” Craig said. “The Troopers’ testimony proved that the State Police routinely disregard the protections of the Constitution in their policing in New Orleans.”
The State Police are in the French Quarter under a contractual arrangement funded by residents of and visitors to New Orleans. Craig noted, “We hope the people and government of New Orleans look closely at the State Police’s record, and insist that Troopers follow the standards and policies developed by NOPD under the Federal Consent Decree. If they take our money, they should follow our rules.”