DENHAM SPRINGS, La. (BPROUD) – A Baton Rouge Police officer is under investigation after allegedly sending messages that blame a teen girl for an officer’s shooting injuries.
Charley Alaina, 17, said 30 minutes before a shooting near a shopping center in Denham Springs injured a police officer, the suspect followed her home after displaying what she called “road rage.”
The next morning a Baton Rouge police officer allegedly sent Alaina’s mother a Facebook message seeming to blame her for the shooting.
The alleged message from Officer Matthew Hurley’s Facebook said, “Tell your friend Charley that I hope she feels bad because she could have prevented the officer from getting shot if she would have reported the vehicle.”
“Who knows what to do in this situation, like people like my house is my safe place, I’m going to come here and lock the doors and go hide in my room. I hope he will get the right punishment that he deserves,” she said.
In another alleged message sent an hour later, he called it a typo.
“None of it is her fault…once again, I’m truly sorry,” he said.
“It was definitely not a mature thing to say to a 17-year-old,” Alaina said.
Alaina said she considers this a form of victim blaming.
“That was definitely not a good thing to say definitely affected me a little bit, I was like, ‘Oh maybe I should have called the cops you know’,” said Alaina.
“The complainant called to report the incident, and it is currently under investigation,” the Baton Rouge Police Department said in a statement.
“I hope he will get the right punishment that he deserves because this is sensitive,” Alaina said. “It’s a sensitive matter to the other family members that this occurred too.”
The Denham Springs Police Department says Cpl. Shawn Kelly’s condition hasn’t changed as of Friday morning.
