- Police Brutality Watch

Starting Dec. 13 a parish grand jury will determine the next step in the investigation into the Aug. 23 Ferriday shooting of Frederick Ron Lollis by a Concordia Parish Sheriff's deputy. The jurors have been selected at random and will start their six-month term in December. Any cases that come up during the next six months will be heard by this grand jury. Investigators will present all they have to the grand jury, which will return a decision. Grand juries can either say there is enough evidence to formally charge a person with a crime, say there needs to be more investigation or fail to return an indictment, meaning no charges are filed. Lollis, who was black, was shot and killed by a white Concordia Parish Sheriff's Deputy on Doty Road. After the shooting many people in the Ferriday community said the shooting was racially motivated. Maxwell has said the deputy was responding to a harassment call involving Lollis and Lollis pulled a gun on the deputy. A gun was found at the scene. Local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and community leaders say witnesses tell a different story. They say at least one person did not see Lollis with a gun and heard him beg not to be shot. The FBI is also investigating the matter as a civil rights violation but has not released its findings. [more] and [more]