Mayor LaToya Cantrell reportedly used her Fifth Amendment right to protect herself from self-incrimination during a closed-door meeting of the Civil Service Commission on Friday.
According to our partners at WWL-TV, people who attended the meeting said that Cantrell pleaded the Fifth when asked about her role in holding up police promotions. Later during the evidentiary hearing, NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick reportedly told commissioners that Cantrell expressed concerns about bias in the process of promoting captains. Cantrell expressed that concern, Kirkpatrick said, after Lieutenant Sabrina Richardson was not promoted back to her previous rank.
WWL-TV reports that Richardson's rank on the promotions list dropped to eight after the NOPD used a policy implemented under the Cantrell Administration that takes an officers disciplinary history into consideration when determining promotions.
Cantrell reportedly invoked her Fifth Amendment rights partly because of ongoing investigations involving two of her associates.
To read the full WWL-TV story, click here.