Few details on ‘Expose Dat’ cop incident

Houma city police officers and state troopers responded to the home of a city police officer Friday night and set up a nearby staging post for nearly two hours because of a report from his wife that he may have wished to harm himself.

After more than two hours, however, police determined that the officer was not a threat to himself or anyone else, and officers from both agencies left.

Trooper First Class Jesse LaGrange confirmed in a statement Saturday that at approximately 7:30 p.m. Friday, Louisiana State Police were “contacted by the Houma Police Department in reference to assisting with a welfare concern. Troopers remained on scene until no further assistance was needed.”

A detailed list of questions was sent to representatives of both the State Police and the Houma Police Department, but other than LaGrange’s statement — issued 16 hours after the police mobilization ended — no official information attributable to a named individual was forthcoming.

LaGrange said that all additional inquiries should be directed to the Houma Police Department.

City Police, however, referred inquiries to the State Police, when asked.

Help from troopers was sought, a Terrebonne Parish official said, because the officer, Wayne Anderson, is on administrative leave pending an investigation of a December felony allegation of domestic violence which resulted in his arrest.

The Times prefers not to use anonymous sources and uses records or identified sources whenever possible. But the lack of detailed information from both agencies has resulted in a reliance on trusted law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the Friday incident.

Both the officer and his wife, Jennifer Anderson, have drawn public attention in the past because of a high-profile lawsuit against the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office and Terrebonne Parish President Gordon Dove in connection with a 2017 seizure of their electronic equipment. because of a website and Facebook page court papers say they maintained. The “Expose Dat” site and a related Facebook page were highly critical of parish officials. The legal action, alleging that Andersons’ civil rights were violated during a Sheriff’s Office investigation after a complaint of criminal defamation, resulted in out-of-court settlements.

A ranking law enforcement officer with direct knowledge of the Friday incident — whose statement was verified by another official — said police responded to 1818 Harvest Drive because the officer’s wife received a text that caused her concern for his safety and the safety of the couples’ children, at least one of whom was in the house at the time police were called.

The text, officials said, did not contain a threat to the wife, or to the child who remained with him in the house. Throughout the time police were present Friday night, there was neither a complaint nor any evidence that Wayne Anderson had committed a crime.

The law enforcement source spoke on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to discuss the incident. Officials who spoke of the incident said they did not regard it as a barricade situation because no threats were made directly to officers, and that the information was all second hand.

Although Anderson is known to have access to firearms, officials said no threat involving firearms were reported. Anderson’s service weapon was taken from him when he was placed on administrative leave.

Houma Police Chief Dana Coleman would not discuss details of the incident, deferring to state police, whom he said had become the lead agency. Contacted Friday night while the incident was on-going, Coleman did confirm in response to a question that no shots had been fired.

Among the questions not yet answered are why officers from two agencies remained mobilized for more than two hours if there was no threat. Friday night, two officials with direct knowledge of the case confirmed, officers summoned a representative of the Terrebonne Parish Coroner, who has the authority to authorize an emergency commitment at the signed request of a relative. Two officials said Jennifer Anderson, while at the area from which officers were staging, was given the opportunity to sign an emergency commitment request but refused.

Police officers in Terrebonne Parish and throughout Louisiana routinely take people to hospitals for psychiatric evaluation against their will if there is a concern that they are a danger to themselves or others, with no request from a relative needed. The action is taken under most circumstances as a precautionary measure.

“Under these circumstances most people would have been taken to Chabert for emergency evaluation,” a law enforcement official said.

Louisiana State Police

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