Leger family refuses to relent in unclear case

While standing Tuesday in the doorway where her husband was shot in June, Flora Leger, right, talks about the night her husband Stanley Leger was killed by a Beaumont Police officer during an altercation with his tenants. From left, Eileen Leger, Cade Bersen and Jim Leger listen on. Photo taken Tuesday, November 25, 2014 Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise less While standing Tuesday in the doorway where her husband was shot in June, Flora Leger, right, talks about the night her husband Stanley Leger was killed by a Beaumont Police officer during an altercation with ... more Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close Leger family refuses to relent in unclear case 1 / 18 Back to Gallery

In Ferguson, Missouri, the St. Louis County prosecutor last Monday released all evidence considered by a grand jury in reaching its decision not to indict a police officer in the Aug. 9 shooting death of an 18-year-old unarmed man.

The prosecutor hoped the massive information dump - people could see everything the grand jury saw and considered - would provide transparency and avert violence.

It didn't, but the record is out there to be examined by all who have questions.

In the case of Stanley Leger, shot and killed June 24 by Beaumont police in still unclear circumstances, authorities refuse to divulge anywhere near the amount of information made available by St. Louis County, Missouri, authorities.

In mid-November, after Beaumont City Council was asked to compel the release of all information in connection with the Leger case, City Attorney Tyrone Cooper cited unspecified exceptions to the state's Public Information Act as the reason for withholding elements of the investigation into the shooting and requested a ruling from the state attorney general about what information must be released.

Cooper said releasing information that is "critical to law enforcement, which should be protected from release" would be a misdemeanor offense.

Legal experts disagree that releasing the information would be a crime because the case is closed and the legal reason for withholding the information is discretionary, not mandatory.

"We're not out there screaming and hollering," said Eileen Leger, one of Leger's daughters-in-law.

Stanley Leger, an 80-year-old taxidermist, recreated game animals taken by hunters and anglers in his workshop behind the house. A sign in the front of the house, the second house in from East Lucas Drive, states his name and occupation. It is impossible to miss and most Beaumonters, hunters in particular, knew his name or recognized what he did for a living.

Heat of the moment

In Missouri, a Ferguson police officer told investigators he struggled inside his police car with an 18-year-old African-American man trying, the released evidence shows, to get the officer's weapon.

The officer claimed self-defense, shooting the teenager moments later. A 12-person grand jury, nine whites and three blacks, agreed with the officer.

In Leger's case, the family still does not know where police were on the evening of June 24. They do not have a reliable timeline of events that led to the shooting and his death. They have never seen the contents of two security cameras that were operating at the Leger home - one in the corner of their living room looking out across East Lucas Drive toward the Leger-owned rent house where all of the trouble began and one looking out from the backyard workshop.

Leger was trying to evict an unruly tenant, but the process is difficult for landlords. In frustration, Leger fired a rifle shot into the air to scare off the tenants whom he had accused of destroying his property after he had served them an eviction notice. The tenant responded with physical threats including a threat to "blow your (Leger's) brains out."

Because Leger fired his rifle, a woman - unidentified - called police. In the early evening, Leger lay dying in his doorway.

"We want the truth," said Elaine Leger, another daughter-in-law. "We want the videos and we want his name cleared."

Jim Leger, or Stanley Leger Jr., said the family just wants to see all of the evidence, withheld thus far by the police with the backing of city officials.

If Stanley Leger Sr.'s actions contributed to his death, so be it, they said. If evidence raises doubts, show it, they said.

The three Beaumont officers involved in the shooting were cleared after an investigation by the Jefferson County District Attorney's office. The official version of events stated that Leger appeared in his doorway holding a rifle, which police ordered him to drop. The Legers said he didn't aim it at police, but they shot and killed him anyway.

Shooting incidents up?

In recent years, police shootings of suspects seem to have increased. Most were declared justified.

In Southeast Texas and in the Houston area, police-involved shootings have included:

n November 2013: Two Port Arthur officers shot and killed a woman holding a knife inside her home. The woman didn't speak English; neither officer spoke Spanish. Police said she threatened them with the knife. A Jefferson County grand jury cleared the officers in February.

n February: Port Arthur police shot and killed a suspected carjacker. They were cleared in April.

n May: A Hearne police officer, near Bryan-College Station, shot and killed a 93-year-old woman who had fired two shots from a pistol.

n June: An off-duty Conroe officer not in uniform took part in chasing a 19-year-old shoplifter into some woods, shooting and killing him after a struggle. He was given five years probation.

n July: Vidor police shot and killed a man wielding a knife. No charges were filed against the officers involved.

n November 2010: An Orange County grand jury cleared an off-duty Orange police captain who shot and killed an unruly man outside an auto parts store the previous July.

n 2010:A Beaumont police officer shot and killed a man with a knife who lunged at shoppers at Parkdale Mall.

In each case, the shooting victims appeared to have been involved in an active threat or in the commission of a crime.

The Ferguson case contained plenty of conflicting testimony, but that grand jury apparently believed the police officer was defending himself from the victim's attempts to get his gun.

In one of the Port Arthur cases, the carjacker managed to get his hands on one officer's pistol, possibly in control of it.

The Leger family wants to see all the evidence police collected in the case to determine for themselves if Stanley Leger acted in a threatening manner and police actions were justified or whether officers acted negligently.

In response to requests for information, Beaumont police have released scant and heavily redacted documentation.

Looking for answers

The Leger family and their friends attended a recent Beaumont City Council meeting to ask council to order the police to provide the public with a full accounting of the shooting, including the contents of the Legers' own security cameras, which were taken by police and have not been returned.

That stands in contrast to events in Ferguson, where rioting ensued after the prosecutor's office announced there would be no indictment. Rioters burned businesses, including black-owned stores and homes. Police arrested more than 60 people.

But thanks to the district attorney, the public has no shortage of facts about the Ferguson case.

Referring to the edited Beaumont PD report made public, with pages blacked out, Beaumont Police Chief James Singletary acknowledged it makes the department look bad."All that black stuff makes us look horrible," he said of the heavy editing. "I wish they could just give it (all of the investigatory information) to them."

Singletary said the question of whether there are more police-involved shootings now than in the past and whether citizens are more likely to distrust or fear police now are difficult to ask and more difficult to answer.

"Our guys asked me if there was something special we need to do because of Ferguson and I said no. Keep doing your job the way you're doing it."

Singletary said violent crime is trending down, but policing still is dangerous work.

"It would be harder to protect citizens if we're more hesitant," he said.

Sine he's been chief in the past three years, Singletary said officers have been shot at eight times and have used deadly force twice, including the Stanley Leger case.

"I think every department in the nation is (reviewing procedure) as a result of Ferguson," Singletary said.

The department plans to make public its efforts for minority hiring perhaps this week, he said.

Trust stretched thin

The Rev. Oveal Walker, of Mt. Calvary Baptist Church, said he thinks the trust between residents and police is "stretched pretty thin," particularly in light of Ferguson and a more recent shooting by Cleveland, Ohio, police of a 12-year-old boy who was holding a pellet pistol, also described as a toy pistol that did not have the telltale orange plastic end on its barrel.

"The trust level is not there," Walker said. "Out of 250 Beaumont police officers, less than 40 are black."

The next move in the Leger case will be made by the state attorney general's office, which will decide whether more information, including the use of force report on the incident, should be made public about Leger's death. A decision is expected by Dec. 12.

At 8 a.m. Wednesday, Flora Leger is to be called as a potential witness in Beaumont Municipal Court in a case against her former tenant Thomas Paul Williams for assault by threat.

Williams also faces a felony criminal charge in 252nd Criminal District Court. A date has not yet been set.

"If one police car had shown up, Stanley would have gone out to meet them," she said. "And he would not have taken the gun. We had no idea the police were there."

Flora Leger's daughter-in-law, Elaine Leger, said the family wants only the truth and what evidence was considered. The family wants the videos returned intact so they can see what the camera lenses captured. And they want the family name cleared.

Family attorney Cade Bernsen said the Legers are at a crossroad.

"We hope the attorney general will tell them (Beaumont police) to release the documents. If it comes out he pointed the gun at the cops, so be it. Let them show it. But they won't do it," he said.

Jim Leger said he wants to know how much time elapsed from when the renters returned to the East Lucas home that had already been destroyed on the inside and the time when the police set up outside the Legers' Galveston Street home, as well as where they were placed and who gave the order to fire.

Bernsen said the manner in which the official investigation was conducted sews distrust of police in general.

"It's bad for good cops," he said. "It can be handled in other ways, like it was in Missouri."

If a police vehicle had been visible, a dashboard camera would have shown what happened, Elaine Leger said.

Flora Leger said, "If a police car had been parked on Lucas, that would have been the end of it."

Jim Leger said, "If he'd seen the police, he would have invited them in for coffee."

Flora Leger, now 81, is upset that an official report stated the police were trying to disarm her husband.

"It breaks my heart," she said. "That's not him. That's not what happened."

DWallach@BeaumontEnterprise.comTwitter.com/dwallach