6/10/2020- James Carter of The Cochran Firm Shreveport is representing the family of Tommy McGlothen, Jr.  McGlothen, 44, died after he was taken into custody by Shreveport police in April.  McGlothen was known to suffer from schizophrenia and depression and was acting strangely, walking up and down the street prior to the incident according to witnesses.  The police were called after an argument broke out between McGlothen and another resident.  Witness video that has been released show Shreveport police beating McGlothen and, once in handcuffs, picking him up only to shove him to the ground.  According to the coroner McGlothen was left unattended in the back of a patrol car for 45 minutes after the arrest and was found unresponsive and not breathing.  Witnesses say an ambulance pulled up much later and saw them administering CPR, but believe that he was already dead because the ambulance left slowly and without their lights on.

Additionally, troubling is the fact that the Shreveport Police Department did not report McGlothen’s death publicly and let 54 days pass before sending an investigative file to the district attorney’s office.  Even then, according to District Attorney James Stewart, the file was “missing reports, statements, downloads and other vital information essential to conduct a thorough and complete review.” Attorney Carter is especially concerned about the coroner’s determination that the cause of McGlothen’s death was ruled to be “excited delirium” which Carter claims to be “junk science.”