Louisiana state police are under scrutiny in light of new evidence in the case of a Black LSU football star who died by suicide after being charged with negligent homicide in a deadly accident.
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Louisiana State Police have come under scrutiny for charging a former college football star with negligent homicide after new video evidence suggests he may not have been involved. Mel Bridges with WRKF in Baton Rouge reports this case is raising questions about how state police conduct investigations.
MEL BRIDGES, BYLINE: Louisiana State University football is known for producing NFL-caliber players. Wide receiver Kyren Lacy was one of those. The young Black athlete was coming off a huge season in 2024 and was widely seen as a top 50 pick in the NFL draft. And then on December 17, 2024, everything changed.
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DEON GUILLORY: And that breaking news – LSU football star Kyren Lacy out on bail tonight after surrendering to police on charges connected to a deadly crash.
BRIDGES: That was Baton Rouge TV station WAFB reporting on a fatal car crash that Lacy was allegedly involved in. Surveillance video shows Lacy driving south in a green Dodge Charger passing four cars at high speeds on a two-lane road. Then a pickup truck driving northbound suddenly swerved off the road to avoid something – allegedly Lacy – causing a chain reaction involving two more cars behind the pickup that led to the death of a 78-year-old veteran. Here’s a video from Louisiana State Police explaining their reasonings for charging Lacy.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: All evidence collected supports the conclusion that Lacy’s reckless operation of the green Charger in oncoming traffic triggered the chain of events involving the other drivers, ultimately resulting in the fatal crash.
BRIDGES: Lacy drove away from the accident. State police charged Lacy with negligent homicide, reckless operation of a vehicle and felony hit-and-run. Lacy turned himself in, then posted bail. The NFL rescinded his draft invitation. On April 12, 2025, two days before his case was scheduled to go before a grand jury, Kyren Lacy died by suicide of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It happened after he was chased by police in Houston who were responding to a call about a gun being fired into the ground during an argument between Lacy and a family member. Here’s then-LSU head football coach Brian Kelly speaking at a press conference the day of Lacy’s death.
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BRIAN KELLY: I’ll remember him as somebody that had a love for the game, a love for being a Tiger, and was a guy that played with great emotion.
BRIDGES: And for a while, that was the end of it. But in October, new evidence surfaced in the original car crash that seemed to exonerate Lacy. Here’s Lacy’s lawyer, Matthew Ory, on HTVHouma, a local TV station, presenting surveillance video that he says proves Lacy is innocent because he was back in the southbound lane when the crash happened.
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MATTHEW ORY: At the time of impact, he’s 72.6 yards behind the vehicles at the time of impact. Keyword – behind the vehicles. That is not how this story was ever painted. Never.
BRIDGES: Ory alleged state police exaggerated or even fabricated evidence to charge Lacy. After the video surfaced, online reaction was swift. Much of it was directed at state police, with people saying Lacy wouldn’t have killed himself if he hadn’t been charged and lost his NFL draft invitation. But soon after, state police issued a narrated video defending their investigation. It shows another view of the accident and says Lacy traveled over the speed limit and that Lacy didn’t get back into his correct lane until it was too late.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: As a green Dodge Charger returns to the southbound lane, aggressive braking and engine deceleration are immediately followed by a crash that can be heard on the surveillance footage.
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BRIDGES: In the video, state police reiterated that nowhere in their investigation did they say Lacy directly caused the crash. The Louisiana NAACP called for the resignation of the head of state police, saying the agency failed the public and that their narrated video is an attempt to justify their role in implicating Lacy, including his death by suicide. They demanded accountability. And the Democratic Party of Louisiana is now calling for a new law against fabricating evidence. They call it Lacy Law. Dadrius Lanus heads the Louisiana Democratic Party.
DADRIUS LANUS: Our heart always goes out to the Lacy family. You know, this is not about politics, but it is about righting wrongs. It is about fixing situations so that people inside of our state know that we’re fighting on their behalf at all times.
BRIDGES: Louisiana’s Republican attorney general said in a statement that the new evidence Lacy’s lawyer put forth does not absolve him in responsibility in the accident. However, she says she is reviewing how the state police conducted its investigation and will release her findings, but it’s not clear when. For NPR News, I’m Mel Bridges in Baton Rouge.
DETROW: If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
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