Officers attacked by mob while investigating hit-and-run in Louisiana

Two Louisiana officers were attacked and injured while investigating a hit-and-run in Port Barre last weekend.

Two officers responded to a report of a car driving erratically before hitting a tree, according to PBPD Chief Deon Boudreaux, with the complainant identifying the vehicle and owner.

When officers attempted to speak to suspect Lybeth Hardy, she and her 15-year-old son became noncompliant.

“They immediately started cursing the police officers telling them to get off of the property,” Boudreaux said.

When the officers asked to see her husband, she said she did not want to wake him and that he was not driving, although she did not identify who was.

Boudreaux says that Hardy’s son “continued to curse and threaten police officers and by this time several people had started to approach the officers in an aggressive manner.”

According to a statement from the department, this is when the situation came to a head.

“The officers repeatedly advised them to back away but they did not comply and continued cursing and threatening the police officers. Officers attempted to arrest Hardy, but the crowd, consisting of adults, teenagers and younger children, started screaming and yelling at the police, and approached in a quick and aggressive manner. Officers then had to deploy pepper spray to defend themselves from the approaching crowd.

The use of pepper spray dispersed most of the crowd but during the struggle, Hardy’s 15-year-old son picked up a large fishing pole and struck an officer behind the head knocking him to the ground and continued to strike the officer.”

One officer received a concussion while the other was hit with a folding chair. Backup officers arrived to make arrests.

Lybeth Hardy, her son and teenage daughter were all arrested on various charges.

KLFY reported that Chief Boudreaux arrived on the scene, only to be accosted.

“When I arrived on scene, I  was met with disrespect not only from adults but from teenagers and preteen children as well,” Boudreaux said. “One of the children took his shirt off and approached me in a combative manner and begin cursing me, using very vulgar language which included derogatory and racist remarks.”

In a statement, Boudreaux made his remarks on the incident, blaming poor parenting for the officers being injured.

“There is a parenting problem when children can stand in the presence of their parents cursing, threatening and assaulting police officers and using a racist terms towards others. These officers were there to investigate a hit and run crash but instead had to fight with a family of all ages, defend their own lives and nearly had to use deadly force, all because of the disrespect and aggressive lifestyle that was taught from parents to children. Had back up not arrived, had there been deadlier weapons laying around the yard, an officer, a husband, a father, could’ve lost his life over a hit and run complaint. A 15-year-old young man could have lost his life had it not been for the compassion and restraint by that police officer.

As I watched the police officers body camera videos, I was proud of the police officers’ incredible restraint and professionalism but, I felt disgust towards the mother of those children. To see a whole family of adults and children surrounding police officers cursing and disrespecting them and making threats and then assaulting them with anything they can get their hands on, which included the fishing pole, the folding chair and one young man even picked up a bicycle and struck an officer.

It’s obvious this mother taught her children to disrespect authority and it could have very well cost her the life of one of her children. I find this very disturbing and disgusting. The lack of respect and lack of self-discipline.”