ST. LANDRY PARISH, Louisiana – Two police officers were put into the hospital after being attacked by a neighborhood mob while they were attempting to investigate a hit-and-run incident.
The St. Landry Parish, Louisiana officers were originally called out to a neighborhood block for a reported individual driving recklessly, according to a WBRZ report.
Witnesses to the hit-and-run accident said the driver of the car lost control, striking a tree and parked car before fleeing the scene.
The officers eventually found the vehicle at a nearby home and approached the residents, where the driver Lybeth Hardy and her 15-year-old son answered the door, though she would not admit to who was driving at the time.
Hardy and her son reportedly cursed the officers and refused to answer questions about the incident, while also not allowing the officers to speak with Hardy’s husband, the owner of the vehicle.
Police said neighbors began approaching as the teenager and his mother continued to curse and threaten them.
When the officers tried to arrest Hardy, the mob began screaming at the officers and approached them in an “aggressive manner,” prompting the officers to use pepper spray in self-defense.
The 15-year-old allegedly picked up a fishing pole and struck one of the officers in the head until he fell to the ground, receiving additional blows thereafter.
An officer was chased by the teen but eventually brandished his service pistol to halt advances.
The other officer was allegedly hit with a metal chair and a bicycle by someone in the crowd. Both officers were taken to a nearby hospital, to be treated for head and arm injuries.
Hardy was arrested and charged with reckless operation of a vehicle, resisting an officer, and hit-and-run. Her teenage son and daughter were both arrested and charged with second-degree battery of an officer and resisting arrest.
Police Chief Deon Boudreaux said he went to the house after the police attack and was met with the same kind of hostility that the other officers encountered.
“When I arrived on scene, I was met with disrespect not only from adults but from teenagers and preteen children as well,” Boudreaux said. “One of the children took his shirt off and approached me in a combative manner and begin cursing me, using very vulgar language which included derogatory and racist remarks. He did this in front of his mother.”
“There is a parenting problem when children can stand in the presence of their parents cursing, threatening and assaulting police officers and using a racist terms towards others,” Boudreaux said.
Boudreaux said he was “proud of the police officers’ incredible restraint and professionalism but, I felt disgust towards the mother of those children.”
“To see a whole family of adults and children surrounding police officers cursing and disrespecting them and making threats and then assaulting them with anything they can get their hands on,” Boudreaux said. “It’s obvious this mother taught her children to disrespect authority and it could have very well cost her the life of one of her children. I find this very disturbing and disgusting. The lack of respect and lack of self-discipline.”
John Binder is a contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.