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Shreveport Mayor Cedric Glover this afternoon defended the actions of Shreveport police in the arrest of actors Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright, saying officers acted properly in handling a disturbance at a downtown bar.
Glover said the city would not make public videos and audiotapes recorded by police car cameras and microphones that officers were wearing because of the pending charges against the actors and five others.
A witness to the July 12 melee said a cell phone recorded part of what happened and shows a racial slur directed by an officer at Wright, who is black. That cell phone recording is in the possession of a lawyer for the actors in California.
"Each and every member of the Police Department involved in that incident conducted themselves in a manner that is, without question, beyond reproach," Glover told the City Council at its regular meeting today.
Glover said he had watched the video and listened to the audiotapes.
The actors and five crew members were arrested at Stray Cat bar on Travis Street. Police were called there by a bar employee who wanted a rowdy patron removed. When it was over, the actors and five crew members had been arrested, a taser had been used on Wright, and he and Brolin were hit with pepper spray when they wouldn't quit holding onto each other, police said. A dozen police officers, a police dog and a crowd of onlookers wound up at the bar.
The city attorney said her office intends to prosecute the actors and members of their party for interfering with officers. The case is scheduled for arraignment in City Court in December. That cell phone recording could be part of the evidence if the case goes to trial.
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