The takedown and arrest of a Belle Chasse lawyer and amateur photographer who declined a deputy's request that he produce identification at a church fair will cost Plaquemines Parish Sheriff Jerry Turlich’s office more than $120,000, a federal civil jury decided Wednesday.
The plaintiff, Michael Ray Holmes, isn’t done. He also has sued District Attorney Charles Ballay’s office, alleging a scheme to shield Turlich’s office from liability over his 2018 arrest.
After a three-day trial, the jury found that a sheriff's deputy, Corbett Reddoch, and others violated Holmes’ rights.
Holmes, now 69, was visiting a fair at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School on a Sunday afternoon when a girl, fresh off a “safe environment” class, alerted her mother and the principal that he was taking photos. The girl and her mother then told a sheriff’s deputy. Reddoch soon approached Holmes and asked for his ID.
“Why?” Holmes asked. Reddoch told him to walk with him, asking again.
Plaquemines Parish District Attorney Charles Ballay
Holmes stopped, repeating: “Why?”
Reddoch then applied an “arm bar takedown” on Holmes, who alleged that the deputy injured his shoulder and dug a knee into his back. "He was either going to dislocate my shoulder or break my arm bone in half," Holmes said.
Reddoch then booked Holmes for resisting an officer and an outstanding traffic attachment.
The jury found that Reddoch, who was later promoted to lieutenant, violated Holmes' federal rights against unreasonable stop and arrest. It also found Reddoch guilty on state claims of battery, false arrest and malicious prosecution.
The jury awarded Holmes $65,000 in damages plus $50,000 for pain and suffering, and $7,700 for medical bills and criminal defense. Turlich’s office also will be on the hook for Holmes' attorney's fees.
“The only thing he did was demand to see my ID, and the only thing I did in response was to ask him why. And then he assaulted me without engaging me in conversation whatsoever,” Holmes said Thursday. “I wanted the truth to be known. That was my first goal.”
Reddoch claimed that Holmes “pulled away” during an interview attempt and resisted while on the ground. In a deposition, Reddoch defended a legal basis for the stop.
"I was going to find out his identity to find out if he, in fact, was registered in any way, to find out if a crime had been committed," he said.
Turlich's office maintained that the deputy did nothing wrong and that Holmes was verbally abusive.
"The safety of our children is paramount. The actions of our deputies were purely in pursuit of this objective,” Turlich’s office said in a statement. “We are disappointed in the outcome of the case and are exploring our legal options."
Holmes claimed that deputies concocted evidence in their report to inflame suspicion, but that none of the dozen shots he took that afternoon highlighted children, only carnival rides.
The jury rejected several of Holmes' other claims, including that Reddoch used excessive force, violated his free speech and intentionally inflicted emotional distress.
The criminal charge against Holmes for resisting arrest went away in 2019, but under circumstances that spurred Holmes to sue Ballay as well.
Holmes alleges that Ballay's office finagled an end to the case against him through “informal diversion” that he never accepted. A state appeals court last year found the deal was invalid, noting one email from a prosecutor wrote who said Holmes would need to refrain from filing a lawsuit as a condition of completing diversion.
"They maintained the threat of prosecution for more than a year, trying to elicit my agreement not to sue the sheriff and the deputies," Holmes said Thursday.
Ballay declined to comment on the pending suit, which hasn't been served, but he described “informal” diversion as a good deal for defendants.
“There’s a certain amount of time you’re monitored to see if you re-offend and do anything else wrong. Some people consider it a DA probation, and the matter is refused, dismissed,” he said.
Ballay insisted that Holmes’ attorney agreed to diversion with prosecutor Bob White, who now works under Orleans Parish DA Jason Williams. White did not respond to a message seeking comment.