Sheriff Newell Normand took great pains to say last week and Tuesday that the incident involving the death of Joe McKnight after being shot by Ronald Gasser following an apparent case of road rage is not about race, but he spent a good portion of his press conference Tuesday decrying racial aspects surrounding it.
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Ronald Gasser was arrested on one count on manslaughter, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand announced Tuesday morning, during an emotional, rant-filled press conference where he scolded protestors who demanded an earlier arrest.
Last week’s shooting marks the second time this year a former pro football player was killed in a road rage incident in southern Louisiana. McKnight eventually parked and went to Gasser’s auto. So, I had a statement.
“It’s not about the process”, Normand said before mockingly using critics’ calls for justice: “It’s about what we want and what we want now”. Gasser agreed to be interviewed for 12 hours without an attorney and consented to a search of his home for which investigators never could have obtained probable cause.
Then Gasser did the same thing to McKnight, Normand said.
The events spiraled toward a deadly conclusion when, according to Normand, McKnight cut Gasser off. When police arrived, Gasser confessed to killing the other driver, police said.
Normand also said that a witness who told the Times-Picayune that McKnight was trying to apologize to Gasser when the man shot him at least once as both stood outside the vehicle and mentioned voting for President-elect Donald Trump had lied about what she saw and changed her story three times.
To add detail to his argument, Normand read an anonymous internet comment out loud directed at one of his colleagues, that included the insults “you punk-ass Uncle Tom coon” and “rat-ass faggot punk”.
It was over the weekend witnesses came forward that contradicted the witness statements and collected right after the shooting.
“You can believe that we will be going back to the Capitol to work on legislation to make it clear [that] when people commit these crimes, they cannot hide behind laws that were meant to do one thing, and are used to disguise what appears to be [murder]”, state Sen. “He also denied accounts that have spread on the internet suggesting that Gasser fired while standing over McKnight”.
“Some people wanted that story to be true”, Normand said.
“I am very much disappointed in the conduct of some of the citizens of not only this parish, but this country”. “At some point of time we’re going to have to come to grips with, and we’re going to have to talk about, this dialogue”. “Mr. MckNight exits his auto and goes to Mr. Gasser’s vehicle”. “Not a single witness has said. one racial slur was uttered”, the sheriff said. Unfortunately, a life was lost.
“Two people engaged in bad behaviour that day. And why? I don’t know”.
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Manslaughter in Louisiana has a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison. He was taken into custody, questioned and released. No gun was found in McKnight’s possession, Normand said. He went on to lambaste those who blasted his office and other officials for not handling the case the way they would have liked.
