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Right after Angie Garbarino was taken from the Shreveport Police Department room where she was injured, a police officer joked to a colleague about taking his picture lying near the pool of blood from Garbarino's injuries, the videotape of that night shows.
A part of that tape of the encounter between Garbarino and police officer Wiley Willis, who was with her when she was injured, shows another officer make light of what happened after Garbarino was taken away on a stretcher and police officers and firefighters were the only ones in the room.
That officer took a picture of the blood with his cell phone, then joked about what happened.
"Let me lay down there beside it like it's mine," the officer said of the blood. "Take a picture so I can freak my kids out."
The officer never got on the floor. It apparently was a joke.
Garbarino's attorney called the incident "deplorable" and "insensitive."
The officer was disciplined for properly not properly reporting the Garbarino case but not for the comment about the blood.
Shreveport Police Chief Henry Whitehorn today said "this entire case is unfortunate" but he would not comment on specific aspects of it.
"The employee (Willis) is appealing to get his job back. Mrs. Garbarino has a pending criminal court date, and there is an active investigation underway by both the district attorney's office and the U.S. Justice department," Whitehorn said in an e-mail to KTBS. "As you can see, there is much more work to be done with this case, and to comment any further could impede due process. That is something I just cannot do."
Garbarino was injured after Willis tried to conduct a sobriety test. She was argumentative that night, insisting on making a phone call before the officer could read her her rights. She tried two different times to leave the room and there was a struggle with the officer. The altercation was recorded by a videotape that records sobriety tests.
Willis eventually turned the camera off to take her to jail. When it was turned back on, Garbarino was lying on the floor in a pool of blood.
What happened in the minute or so the camera was off is disputed. Garbarino said the officer beat her. Willis said she fell on her face while trying to get away from him again.
The Caddo district attorney's office and the FBI are continuing separate investigations to determine whether criminal charges should be filed against Willis.
Caddo District Attorney Paul Carmouche said his office still has several other people they want to interview, including Garbarino and Willis. The FBI has interviewed Garbarino, her attorney said.
Carmouche said his office had reviewed the cell phone incident. He said it is "obviously not in good taste" but isn't illegal and is not part of his investigation.
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