Take 5 with Funkshway
September 12, 2018
Councilman currently on trial, arrested for violation of protective order
September 12, 2018
A Houma police officer is under investigation following the release of a music video that features her amid a group of dancing youngsters — in a production that also shows the teens handling what the producer says are simulated handguns.
(SEE THAT VIDEO BY CLICKING HERE)
“We have an administrative investigation due to the lyrics, the content and the flashing of weapons,” Houma Police Chief Dana Coleman said. “The Houma Police Department does not support or condone this. We are about protecting, we don’t condone that at all.”
The video features rap artist “Fvme Tha GOAT,” a Houma 18-year-old who recently graduated from Ellender Memorial High. “Fvme” is pronounced “Fame.” “GOAT” stands for “Greatest Of All Time.”
The artist’s actual name is Bobby Castle. The rap song is titled “Pressure” and is performed in rapid-fire rhyme by Castle, with a group of more than a dozen young men in the background dancing, cavorting and in a few instances displaying a handgun. In some portions of the video they flash amounts of cash, adding up to street culture references.
The officer, identified by others in law enforcement as Melissa Quintal, appears in the center of the group in one shot, beside her patrol unit, a Houma PD black-and-white numbered “399.” Coleman said the officer is working regular shifts and is not subject at this time to any sort of suspension.
The Fvme video is not her first time on camera. Quintal was a regularly featured deputy in the television series “Cajun Justice” when Vernon Bourgeois was the sheriff of Terrebonne Parish. Bourgeois resigned his position to current sheriff Jerry Larpenter, who served before him. Several officers active in the Bourgeois administration were dismissed and the Cajun Justice show was no longer shot. In the show Quintal is said to have the nickname “Catfish.”
She did not respond to a request for comment sent in a private message through Faceback.
HPD has a strict rule that officers are not to speak to media without permission of the chief, Coleman said. When asked, he said that would include entertainment media as well as news media.
The artist said he did not have direct contact with Quintal. He and others involved in the production said the officer had asked the youngsters as to what they were doing, and that they told her they were shooting a video.
Quintal, they said, was not informed of the handguns not of the video’s street-tough nature.
Jalisa Mulligan, owner of the JayP Films production company in Houma, said there was no actual plan for the officer to be in the final product.
“It just kind of happened,” she said. “I kept filming, I don’t think she asked anything, or if we asked her. We thought it was cool a cop being nice and not harassing us and not shooting us. I wish that more officers were like her, that’s what I wish, and I think she deserves an award. Things could have been different. She stopped and was checking on us to see that we were not getting into trouble. She did was not there when the props were used, in a different scene. It was the way I edited it back and forth.”
The video, Castle said, is meant to be a representation of life as he has seen it growing up in his Senator Circle neighborhood. During an interview in which his lyrics and their context were discussed, Castle indicated that there are a number of references to older people who are themselves not perfect, but judge younger people for their actions.
“It’s speaking facts about life, about people and where I am living,” Castle said. “All over people who never talk about what they really do and lie every day what they talk about.”
Chief Coleman made clear his disapproval of the weapons displays, even if — as the artists state — they were not real.
“Even just props can be deadly,” Coleman said, noting that bystanders or a police officer would not know that the weapons can’t fire.
In 2014 14-year-old Cameron Tillman was shot and killed by a Terrebonne deputy during a call reporting youngsters with weapons. A state police investigation concluded that the teen officer fired because Tillman answered the door of the house with a simulated pistol in his hand.
Castle said he knew Tillman — also a student at Ellender — and that the two were good friends.
Controversy over the video, Castle said, has been a good thing for him.
“I am thankful for the results of the video,” Castle said. “I know it’s going viral now. It’s only made me more famous.”
