Car vandalism case cuts deep in Thibodaux

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On its surface, the damage done to cars in a West Thibodaux church parking lot appears as a simple property crime, which was easily solved with surveillance video and fast work by detectives.


“Detectives identified and made contact with the individual on Tuesday and the juvenile confessed to damaging the vehicles,” a statement issued by Lafourche Sheriff Craig Webre’s office Sept. 7 reads. “The teen indicated a rock was used to scratch the vehicles and gave no motive other than ‘boredom.’”

But for some members of the predominantly black congregation at St. Peter Baptist Church, the car-scratching spree – one of two such incidents within a few weeks’ time – has fueled suspicions of something more sinister at work than boredom. They question whether authorities did enough to probe the young suspect’s motives, and are rankled by what they perceive as a dismissal of their concerns by detectives.

“I definitely believe it was motivated by hate,” said Qiana Daniels-Jones, the daughter of St. Peter’s pastor, the Rev. Herman Daniels. “Who targets a congregation of church members twice? Even once? If we were an LBGTQ event in a specific community and only the LBGTQ population was targeted, you would think it was a hateful act. So it looks like we were targeted.”


The pastor and some other members of his flock are more circumspect.

“In my position I wouldn’t want to believe that, although It is a predominantly white neighborhood and we are the only black people there,” Rev. Daniels said.

The ordeal began on the Sunday before Labor Day. Rev. Daniels’ sermon concerned the ever-present nature of evil. It was later regarded by some in attendance as prophetic.


“The devil is riding someone right at this moment,” the pastor told churchgoers, having no idea that as he spoke those words, someone indeed was committing a crime in the parking lot, just on the other side of the church’s tall wooden doors.

When the service ended, departing faithful discovered that their parked cars had been scratched and marred. Some bore scars on roofs, others hoods, and others fenders or doors.

The initial toll was twelve. Victims later learned of similar damage to other cars in the church lot, during the previous month; Congregants who had left before being counted were later contacted, which brought the number of damaged cars to more than twenty. Estimates from body shops suggest the total value of the damage could be anywhere from $6,000 to $22,000 in total.


But financial cost is for some victims the least reason for concern. A Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy responded to the church and took a report. She also knocked on the doors of nearby homes but gleaned no information.

A business near the church had surveillance video that detectives were able to view Tuesday, Sept. 6, confirming what they had already been told. A 15-year-old who lives a short distance from the church was observed. He was questioned, charged with twelve counts of criminal damage to property, and released to his mother, with whom he resides.

Quiana Daniels-Jones was not happy with the response she got from the detectives when she tried to learn more, in particular what role race may have played in the decision to victimize members of the church by the teen, who is white. The detectives told her she was reading too much into the incident, she said. She said she was told details about the boy’s social, medical and family history. 


“I didn’t need to hear any of that, I didn’t ask for any of that” said a frustrated Daniels-Jones. “We had gone to find out what is next in the system, and to let them know this was not a one-time event, not to hear this boy’s family history. All of this is irrelevant. If this is in the judge’s hands, let that be in the judge’s hands.”

Burnell Tolbert, president of the Lafourche Parish Branch of the NAACP, shares some of Daniels-Jones’ concerns and has offered to help broker dialogue between her and authorities.

Louisiana has a hate-crime statute, which imposes an additional five years in prison or jail for each misdemeanor count and ten years for each felony count. The detectives said they had no evidence to indicate motive other than what the teen had said, a prerequisite for a hate crime charge.


National experts on hate crimes and how they are handled agree generally that without an overt hate message or prior history indicating a perpetrator’s state of mind, branding such an attack a hate crime – as well as charging an individual with a hate crime – is not likely.

“Without the proof of bias you don’t have a hate crime,” said Allison Goodman, the New Orleans-based southern regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, one of the nation’s largest anti-hate crime organizations.

It is nonetheless important, she said, for victims to know that police are taking their concerns about the potential that a hate crime was committed seriously.


“It is worth it to look into some background and to communicate with the victims that you are doing that, that you are doing due diligence and not dismissing their feelings,” Goodman said.

Sheriff Webre said he was not familiar with all the details of the case, although he was aware of the crime and of the arrest. From what he knows of the case, he said, he has no reason at this point to believe his detectives acted inappropriately.

“A victim and a perpetrator being of different races or different demographics is not what a hate crime is,” said Webre, adding that misuse of the hate crime statute in cases where it likely does not apply devalues its purpose, and the ability to properly use it where victimization because of a specific demographic can be proven. “Law enforcement officers are trained to look at the intent and if there is some indication to charge. It can even be someone of the same race or demographic.”


Webre said the emotional response from some church members is not surprising to him.

“It’s not unique,” Webre said. “When you are victimized it affects people differently, sometimes in a very emotional way. The criminal justice system is not based on emotion but fact and objectivity. There is a natural dichotomy. For law enforcement the goal is to use the information they have to identify the person or persons. Once they have made an arrest it goes to the prosecutor for evaluation. They have to make some judgment calls about what is the appropriate thing, the appropriate outcome.”

The determination at this point that the vandalism was not a hate crime – given the facts available – is plausible to Mark Potok, senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center.


“On the other hand it is important for police officers to make victims feel like they are really being listened to,” Potok said. “Unfortunately in America there is a history of black people actually not being listened to by white police officers. So I am not saying that the police did anything wrong. But we are a country and Louisiana is a state with a very troubled history of race relations that requires some extra sensitivity on the part of police officers.”

The Times is not releasing the name of the boy, because of his age and because the crime was not violent in nature. Although his mother did not return a request for a phone call, his grandfather spoke with a reporter.

His grandson, the man said, harbors no racial hatred, and has not been raised with it. The door to the house is usually kept double-locked to keep the boy, who has had behavior problems, in check, but it was not double-locked that morning. The boy, his grandfather said, was not taking required medication the morning of the offense. He played football while a student at West Thibodaux Middle School, his grandfather said. This year, his first at Thibodaux High, the boy is not playing football but did become a member of the school’s Junior ROTC.


The grandfather said he knows there must be legal consequences but is hoping they don’t include incarceration, which he doesn’t think will serve a purpose. Community service of some sort, he said, would be preferred.

Such alternatives will be up to District Attorney Cam Morvant’s office to discuss, although restitution, based on his long-standing policies, will likely be an important component of any resolution. Any direct communication to the congregation in a restorative justice framework would also have to be approved by Morvant or by a judge.

Potok is among experts who say that some form of reparative justice could be a good fit in a case such as this.


“The reality is that as a general matter in a crime like this it doesn’t make any sense to have a 15-year-old go to jail or a reform school,” Potok said. “This is the moment to perhaps beging about a change in the direction of that kid.” •

Thibodaux vandalism