Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto announced that his office has arrested two deputies involved in a shooting that left a man dead inside a parked car in Marrero.
“The use of force in this situation was not justified. As much as I would like to defend them," said Sheriff Lopinto at a late night press conference Monday night.
The shooting happened last week in the 500 block of Wilson Street in Marrero.
The two deputies arrested are Isaac Hughes, 29, and Johnathan Louis, 35, both were booked with manslaughter for the shooting that left 34-year-old Daniel Vallee dead inside his parked car. Lopinto says Vallee was not armed at the time.
Sheriff Lopinto says the deputies along with other deputies were responding to a noise complaint at the house on Wilson Street, which he says is known to be a crack house in the neighborhood.
Lopinto says that the house has been a problem for neighbors in the neighborhood and that his department has responded to countless complaints, but it is little legally he can do.
Lopinto says on that night, Hughes and Louis encountered Vallee who was sitting inside an SUV parked out front of the house.
According to the sheriff, a switched license plate on the vehicle caught the attention of Hughes and Louis, and after several minutes of the deputies attempting to order Vallee out of the car, he refused to cooperate and the situation escalated.
"Not only did they ask him to get out of the vehicle, they begged him, they threatened him, trying to get him to come out," Lopinto said.
“Mister Vallee decided to start the vehicle back up,” said Lopinto. “That of course escalated the situation. Numerous of my deputies drew their weapon at that time, expecting him to try and take off. They begged for him to turn the vehicle off, to not put the vehicle in drive, to not put them in this situation. I can tell you without a doubt they believed he was going to try to drive off.”
He says one officer was positioned directly in front of the vehicle and another off to the side. At some point in the standoff, Lopinto says Vallee hit the horn on his SUV.
“In my opinion, that horn, whether it scares my deputy or whether my deputy reacts to the sound of the horn and ends up firing his weapon,” Lopinto explains. “That in turn, the second deputy fires his weapon reacting to the gunfire.”
"Their perception was that their life was in danger. The use of force in this situation was not justified, Lopinto said.
Throughout the investigation, Lopinto says all deputies involved were forthcoming and honest in the investigation and their recounts of the incident collaborate with body-worn camera video of the shooting.
