HAMMOND – The Tangipahoa Parish sheriff said Wednesday he fired a deputy after seeing video of a raid on a local home without a search warrant.
Randall Kelley had been placed on administrative leave but was fired following an investigation by Sheriff Gerald Sticker. The former officer may face charges later.
A video taken from a home on Monday — first broadcast by WBRZ — shows Kelley walking into the home and later shoving 18-year-old Jacob Pea to the ground in the front yard. Sticker said Kelley’s actions were unjustified given the lack of a search warrant and that the former deputy’s conduct did not meet department standards.
“As soon as we became aware of this situation, Sheriff Sticker removed this deputy from the scene and stripped him of his assignment, equipment and unit,” Sticker’s office previously said when it placed the deputy on administrative leave.
Pea’s mother Michelle says the video of her son’s arrest keeps running through her head.
“Every time I watch that video, it hurts, it does something to me inside,” Michelle said. “Why is he coming down my hallway? How did he get into my house?”
Sheriff Sticker said Tangipahoa officers were there to assist Ponchatoula police officers who were searching for someone making threats at Ponchatoula High School. The 16-year-old suspect was home at the time of Pea’s wrongful arrest.
Sheriff Sticker says what he saw in the video is not what officers are trained to do and that Pea did nothing to warrant the response they saw.
“Ideally, it’s a conversation, you look for a person, ask them for their name and ask for identification. Nothing happened, it went from zero to a hundred,” he said.
While the family is grateful to TPSO for its quick response to the situation, they are demanding a public apology.
“A public apology to Jacob for the way he was treated, a public apology to my mother and father in the safety of their home was disrespectful,” Jacob’s sister Onisha told WBRZ.
“While we understand that this encounter has increased your doubts about your trust in law enforcement, we would like to address this. We ask for your patience in this process and would like to invite you and your family to contact the Sheriff directly about this matter as the matter develops,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
