Federal jury acquits Louisiana trooper caught on camera pummeling Black motorist

By JIM MUSTIAN
Associated Press

A federal jury Wednesday acquitted a white Louisiana trooper charged with violating the civil rights of a Black motorist despite body-camera footage that showed the officer pummeling the man 18 times with a flashlight. After a three-day trial in Monroe, jurors found Jacob Brown not guilty of depriving Aaron Bowman of his civil rights during a 2019 beating that left Bowman with a broken jaw, broken ribs and a gash to his head. It was the first case to emerge from a series of FBI investigations into troopers’ beatings of Black men during traffic stops in northern Louisiana.