‘Don’t shoot my daddy.’ Teen begged as deputy aimed gun at dad’s head, lawsuit says
A family suing a Louisiana sheriff’s deputy for excessive force, saying he held them at gunpoint after following them for many miles in an unmarked car, will have their case heard in court, according to a new ruling.
Wesley Pigott was driving his daughter, son and the boy’s two friends four years ago when he pulled into an empty parking lot after noticing he was being followed in Alexandria, about a 120-mile drive northwest from Baton Rouge, according to his federal lawsuit.
That’s when Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy Paul Gintz appeared, drew his gun and screamed at Pigott to exit his truck, the lawsuit says. Pigott’s daughter, who was 17 at the time, thought they were being robbed, she later testified.
Gintz pointed his weapon at Pigott, and then at the man’s children and friends, according to the lawsuit. Gintz has denied aiming his gun at the children.
After Pigott followed Gintz’s commands to keep his hands in the air, Gintz pointed his gun close to Pigott’s forehead, the lawsuit says. Then he pressed the barrel of his weapon to the back of Pigott’s head as the children watched in horror, according to the lawsuit.
“Please don’t shoot my daddy!,” Pigott’s 15-year-old son begged while crying, the lawsuit says.
Gintz held Pigott at gunpoint until another deputy arrived and intervened, according to the lawsuit. This deputy apologized to Pigott and told him he was free to go, the lawsuit says.
Gintz’s use of excessive force was racially motivated, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the Pigotts along with Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Gintz pursued Pigott, who is white, after seeing his two children were Black, the lawsuit contends.
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana previously ruled Gintz’s employment as a law enforcement officer meant he was protected by qualified immunity and dismissed the case, according to the ACLU of Louisiana.
But the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed with this ruling and has revived the lawsuit, the ACLU of Louisiana announced in a Dec. 16 news release.
In finding Gintz used excessive force by pointing his gun at someone who wasn’t a threat, the appeals court has sent the case back to district court for trial with its Dec. 12 ruling, according to Pigott’s attorneys.
When asked how he feels about the development, Pigott offered a sports analogy in a Dec. 18 statement to McClatchy News.
“Ever been to a football game? It feels like a pick 6. We just intercepted and scored.”
“Now, that we have momentum, I want to take care of business and hold Officer Gintz accountable,” Pigott said.
The Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office declined a request for comment, as it doesn’t comment on pending litigation, Major Tommy Carnline told McClatchy News.
Gintz is still employed as a deputy, Carnline confirmed Dec. 18.
“Mr. Pigott’s children were racially profiled and subjected to terror at the hands of the Rapides Sheriff Office,” Nora Ahmed, legal director at the ACLU of Louisiana, said in a statement. “He and his children deserve their day in court.”
Why the family was followed
The night of April 17, 2020, Pigott drove by the Rapides Parish Detention Center, where Gintz was on duty, spotted his vehicle and decided to follow him, according to the appeals’ court’s opinion.
Since Pigott supervised some of the center’s detainees at the Huddle House, a restaurant in Alexandria where they participated in a work-release program, he passed by the facility to show his daughter, Mya, where they lived, according to the filing. Mya also worked at the restaurant.
At the time, Pigott’s son and his two younger friends were also in the truck, the court says.
Gintz, who was working as a supervisor, later testified that when he saw Pigott’s truck, he was suspicious.
He said he felt the driver “may have introduced contraband into the jail or possibly aided in the escape of a detainee,” the court says.
“But Deputy Gintz conceded that neither he nor any other deputy at the RPDC saw the occupants of the truck throw anything from the vehicle or commit any other illegal act,” the court’s opinion states.
Gintz’s pursuit of the Pigotts then led to the parking lot encounter.
Video shows deputy’s gun pointed
The court says that what happened in the parking lot wasn’t captured on video until the second deputy arrived, as Gintz wasn’t wearing a body-worn camera.
When the deputy got there, his body-worn camera showed Gintz standing a few feet behind Pigott with his gun pointed at Pigott’s back, according to the opinion.
Gintz later testified that the family didn’t appear threatening when he approached Pigott’s truck, court documents show.
Gintz was investigated by the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office’s internal affairs division, the court says.
A report based on the investigation concluded Gintz didn’t have the authority to follow Pigott’s truck, according to the court.
Gintz “showed poor judgment and decision making by leaving the facility without a supervisor, using his (personal vehicle) to follow another vehicle off the premises and using an improper show of force with his firearm,” the court says, citing the report.
The encounter caused Pigott to become paranoid when seeing law enforcement officers and traumatized his children, according to the court.
It affected his son’s aspirations of becoming a game warden and “eroded his trust” in authorities, the court says.
When the district court dismissed the lawsuit, the appeals court said it didn’t consider the “Pigotts were compliant and not actively resisting or attempting to flee.”
Though Gintz didn’t fire his gun, “drawing a gun constitutes use of force,” the court says.
Delia Addo-Yobo, staff attorney at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, said “no child should ever have to witness their parent being held and threatened at gunpoint by a police officer.”
This story was originally published December 19, 2024 at 1:36 PM with the headline "‘Don’t shoot my daddy.’ Teen begged as deputy aimed gun at dad’s head, lawsuit says."
.jpg)