Mom fought with students after being let into school through side door near gym, police say



A mother is accused of fighting students in a gymnasium prior to the start of the school day in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, late last month.

The incident took place around 7 a.m. Aug. 22 at IDEA Bridge, WAFB-TV reported, while students were waiting for classes to start after their morning bus ride to campus.

'I feel like when my child goes to school that her life is in their hands. So this makes me very, very, very worried to know that no one was there all that time that this was going on.'

Jah’n’que Brown, a junior at the school, told the station she was defending herself from another student, that student's sister — and that student's mother.

“She’s threatening her and saying, ‘Oh, let’s go outside and fight, come on, we’re gonna fight,’ stuff like that," Jah’n’que recalled to WAFB, adding that soon after "everything just starts popping off. And I get hit."

Baton Rouge police responded to the incident, but the department has not yet completed its investigation, the station said, adding that charges are pending. Corp. Saundra Watts confirmed to WAFB that a mother was let into the school through a door near the gymnasium and that she participated in the altercation.

Jah’n’que’s mother, Yakisha Brown, told the station she's worried about her children’s safety at school and isn't happy: “There was a whole lot of lives involved in that, and I feel it’s unjust, it’s just not right."

WAFB said it reached out to IDEA Public Schools and asked what security measures are in place and whether any security guards or staff members are responsible in such cases. The station said Director of Communications Rebecca Suarez responded with this statement: “IDEA Bridge is aware of an incident that took place at our campus. We received reports that a physical altercation involving a parent took place. Appropriate staff were on site to respond to the incident. Duty personnel and administrators were able to diffuse [sic] the situation and remove the parent from the campus. All students and staff are safe. The campus partnered with local law enforcement in the investigation.”

Jah’n’que added to WAFB that no one in authority was present at the time the fighting began: “Nobody was in there. No teachers, no administration. We’re in the gym at the time, and they’re supposed to be in the gym. They’re supposed to be watching us, everyone. They’re supposed to be coming in the gym, and they’re supposed to be there before we even get in there. We were there for, like, a good five minutes. I’m not even gonna lie, like, students were trying to stop it, yeah, but ... no administration or anything like that was there.”

The station added that the IDEA Public Schools website indicates says all campuses are closed, meaning visitors can enter only through main doors. WAFB also said it asked if the mother or the students are facing consequences, but the station said it has not yet received a response.

Brown noted to the station that she's hoping for drastic changes in IDEA Bridge's security and safety protocol: “I feel like when my child goes to school that her life is in their hands. So this makes me very, very, very worried to know that no one was there all that time that this was going on."

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Black woman charged with hate crimes after reportedly calling white arresting officer 'racist a** mother******,' racial slur



A black Louisiana woman was charged with hate crimes after she was accused of calling a white Baton Rouge police officer who arrested her over the weekend a "racist a** mother******" and a racial slur, WVLA-TV reported.

Crystal Harris, 43, of Baton Rouge, was arrested Sunday and also was charged with illegal use of the 911 emergency communication system, resisting a police officer with force or violence, public intimidation and retaliation, false communication with the intent to cause an emergency response, and misrepresentation during booking, the station said.

Harris during the transport reportedly 'made multiple comments about the officer being white and that was the reason for her arrest,' the station said, citing the affidavit. They included calling the officer a 'racist a** mother******' and a 'union [N-word] boy,' WVLA reported.

Police dispatchers reportedly told the responding officer that Harris “had consistently been calling in on 911 demanding an officer come out stating that she would keep calling until one arrived on scene,” WVLA said, citing the affidavit. Dispatchers also told the officer that Harris was “very aggressive towards them during the calls," which are recorded, the station said.

The officer arrived at the scene in the 1100 block of Spanish Town Road around 6:30 a.m., WVLA said.

Turns out the same officer brought Harris to the same location previously, the station said, adding that Harris reportedly was attempting to retrieve her belongings from an apartment complex. The affidavit indicated that the officer previously advised Harris “to call the constable’s office to set a time to recover her belongings if she was not able to do so today," WVLA noted.

During the officer's Sunday encounter with Harris, the officer found her outside the complex and told her no one would help her break into the locked unit, the station said, adding that she previously had been provided with instructions on how to appropriately handle the issue.

WVLA reported that Harris was arrested at the scene on charges of misusing 911 and intimidating dispatchers, placed into a police vehicle, and transported to a first district booking site.

Harris during the transport reportedly “made multiple comments about the officer being white and that was the reason for her arrest," the station said, citing the affidavit. They included calling the officer a “racist a** mother******" and a “union [N-word] boy," WVLA reported. In addition, she reportedly said her arrest “wasn’t proper protocol," the station noted.

More from WVLA:

Harris let the officer know she would not get out of the vehicle and, at first, did not do so.

During transport, she reportedly dared the officer “to put hands on her” and, once at the booking site, did not let herself be shackled and led into the holding area.

BRPD said the officer had to guide Harris to the holding area. She reportedly refused to be fingerprinted multiple times, according to the affidavit.

Harris on Sunday was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison; jail records examined Wednesday morning indicate she's still there.

Anything else?

Baton Rouge police in 2016 arrested a 35-year-old woman named Crystal Harris for calling 911 11 times, WBRZ-TV reported. The station said she repeatedly called 911 without requiring medical or police assistance; on the tenth call she was told that she would be arrested if she made another nonemergency 911 call. She was charged with illegal use of 911 and booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, WBRZ said.

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Baton Rouge residents tired of poor schools and services will likely soon have separate city, even as opponents cry racism



Thousands of Louisiana residents who voted years ago to create a separate city out of a section of Baton Rouge will likely soon have their wish now that the state supreme court gave a major ruling in their favor.

The move to create a separate school district in the St. George region of southeastern Baton Rouge began more than a decade ago and quickly evolved into a movement to create a separate City of St. George in the hopes that residents there would receive better services in exchange for their hard-earned tax dollars.

A 2015 measure to create the city fell just short. Four years later, a similar measure passed with 54% of the vote.

As often happens when disgruntled voters don't get their way, opponents of the new city quickly went to court to try to stop it from being officially established, claiming that St. George would take tens of millions in desperately needed tax resources from Baton Rouge.

For a while, the naysayers succeeded. In 2022, a district judge ruled that the proposal for the City of St. George was "unreasonable" and doubted that the city would operate under a balanced budget. Then last year, the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that those who created the initiative to put the proposal on the ballot in 2019 failed to follow state law.

On Monday, those victories came to a screeching halt at the Louisiana Supreme Court, which ruled 4-3 that organizers had followed the proper procedures to incorporate the new city, thus overturning the lower courts' decisions.

State leaders have already taken steps to create the city. In 2020, the legislature created the St. George Transition District with the power to levy taxes for the time being. Should St. George become officially incorporated, as is expected, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry will appoint an interim mayor and five interim council members. In the future, city residents will elect leaders for themselves.

The initial proposal to create St. George established boundaries that would have given the city a population of about 68,000, but subsequent changes to the boundaries mean that the city will actually have closer to 100,000 people.

As is the case in the general U.S. population, 12% of the residents living inside the borders of St. George residents are black. However, since the black population in Baton Rouge is 47%, detractors are claiming that the creation of St. George is yet another manifestation of racism.

The St. George region is "predominantly white and affluent," the AP noted with concern. The Advocate likewise added that "the St. George movement" may be "inherently racist as it creates legal lines of segregation."

Indeed, an NAACP statement about the state supreme court's ruling similarly fretted about "potential segregation and unequal resource distribution." "Our children and community deserve a stable, equitable, and inclusive environment, and we implore decision makers to prioritize these fundamental values," it asserted.

But St. George proponents insist that they just want to see their tax dollars better spent. In fact, the campaign slogan for the measure to create the city was "Better Government, Local Control."

Chris Rials, one of the leaders of the movement to create St. George, called for healing and unity with their Baton Rouge neighbors. "We extend an open invitation to neighborhoods and businesses contiguous to the city of St. George to be a part of the coming renaissance of East Baton Rouge Parish," he said.

"We are open for growth and your business."

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FACT CHECK: Is There An Active Serial Killer In Baton Rouge, Louisiana?

'At this point in time, there is not anything to support any truthfulness to these allegations'