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A former deputy alleges that race is the reason he was dismissed from the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office, after a disciplinary issue resulted in his being transferred from road patrol to duty in the jail.
But officials say Wesley Laronte, a black deputy, resigned from his position and was not fired, as papers filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission allege. Sheriff Jerry Larpenter also denied that any problem concerning treatment of black officers exists in his office.
“I am color-blind, I have never looked at color,” said Larpenter. “I don’t play that game.”
The EEOC says the charge is still pending, and that it has been forwarded to the Louisiana Commission on Human Rights. The EEOC has taken no position on the validity of the charge other than accepting it at this point.
According to Laronte’s complaint, a shift supervisor berated him in a rude manner that he had not seen used in cases of errors made by other deputies. The incidents cited included alleged profanity, although no racial epithets were alleged.
On Oct. 24, 2016, according to the complaint, the supervisor told another deputy that he would “feed (Laronte) enough rope until (he) was fired.” Other allegations include placement in busy patrol areas with dangerous calls such as domestic violence complaints to handled without backup. When he pressed the supervisor for a reason, Laronte alleges, he was told that it was done as a punishment.
A complaint was made to a major at the Sheriff’s Office, Laronte said. A meeting was held with the shift lieutenant and other ranking officers during which, according to Laronte, the lieutenant justified the allegedly ill treatment by saying that it was his way of making Laronte into a better officer because he thought he had potential, and that he wanted Laronte to train rookies graduating from the office’s academy. However, Laronte said, he was never given such an assignment.
Laronte acknowledges that some problems were caused by his own actions. On Christmas Day he rear-ended a truck with his patrol car after falling asleep at the wheel. It was then discovered that his license to drive had expired the month before. Laronte got the license renewed two days after the wreck, but was told by his lieutenant that on direct orders from Larpenter he was not drive to and from work with a patrol car, only with his own personal vehicle. But Laronte’s car was not working.
An internal affairs review board staffed by ranking supervisors questioned Laronte, who endured a brief suspension without pay for violation of department policy, and was demoted from patrol officer to correctional officer.
In the complaint, Laronte said he was told by supervisors – after learning from a payroll clerk that he was fired – that other deputies told them Laronte expressed to them a desire not to work at the jail.
He acknowledges telling a supervisor that other deputies who had violated the rules concerning vehicles or had accidents were not demoted. The protest, he said, was rebuffed.
“Prior to this occasion numerous white deputies were involved in traffic accidents,” Laronte said. “None were suspended. Note that there is only four black deputies on patrol and the moment we make one mistake we are usually fired or demoted compared to white deputies who committed similar offenses and get to stay in their divisions with the same pay. I believe the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office is often too quick to fire blacks or African-Americans for the same minor offenses a white deputy might violate.”
Laronte said he was always on time for work and had made numerous high profile arrests, and that he sought to bring his grievance directly to Larpenter but was rebuffed by a high-ranking officer.
“My door is always open,” Larpenter said. “I’ve got three doors in my office and they are all open. My deputies come in on a regular basis. I think we will prevail at the first hearing.”
