By james art A grand jury recently indicted a Baton Rouge police officer for her role in a 2023 crash that killed a deaf man.
Charmaine Buckley, 29, was rushing to a call for backup when her vehicle crashed into the back of a Chevrolet Impala driven by Caleb James Chapetta, 38, late on the night of October 20, 2023.
She was traveling 79 miles per hour – almost twice the posted speed limit – when she ran a red light at the intersection of Government Street and South Foster Drive. According to an arrest affidavit, the officer “did not yield or attempt to clear the intersection in any manner” before running the light and striking Chapetta’s vehicle. The Baton Rouge man died at the scene.
A special grand jury panel found enough evidence to charge Buckley with negligent homicide during a hearing on Oct. 17, according to 19th Judicial District Court records. The indictment faces Buckley up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Prosecutors also charged her with reckless operation of a vehicle and two counts of negligent injury on Oct. 17. Buckley is scheduled to be arraigned before 19th Judicial District Court Commissioner Kina Kimball on Nov. 26, court records show.
Buckley was a two-year veteran of the police force, working in the uniformed patrol division. She was placed on administrative leave when the crash happened.
According to a department spokesman, officers responded to reports of shots fired around 10:30 p.m. and issued a call for backup as they drew fire from multiple people at South 16th and Government streets. Buckley was rushing to help with his lights and sirens activated in his marked Ford Explorer when he rear-ended Chapetta’s car about two miles west of the shooting.
Chapetta has been deaf since birth, according to a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by his father in federal court in August. Court records show Chapetta’s mother also filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Buckley, the city-parish and former Police Chief Murphy Paul in August. Two other victims involved in the multi-vehicle wreck sued Buckley and the city-parish for damages and personal injuries Friday, 19th JDC records show.
Police said Chapetta had a green light when he was driving south on Foster Drive. Buckley was driving 79 miles per hour in a 40 mph zone when she crossed the intersection, the arrest warrant states. Lawsuits state the officer failed to stop and the impact caused Chapetta’s body to be thrown from his car.
Nancy Lee, Buckley’s partner, who was in the front passenger seat, was seriously injured; Zachary Sheridan, who was driving another vehicle, suffered moderate injuries, according to police reports and court records. Sheridan was one of the plaintiffs who filed a personal injury lawsuit last week.
Louisiana law states that the driver of an emergency vehicle may run a red light “but only after reducing speed or stopping as may be necessary for safe operation.” BRPD’s own policy states that when approaching an intersection controlled by a stop sign or red light, officers must “slow their vehicle to a speed deemed reasonable and which would allow them to bring their vehicle to a complete stop if is necessary’.
A previously reported analysis by the Advocate showed that BRPD officers initiated about 1,200 police pursuits from 2013 to 2023 — about one every three days. About 10% have had fatal outcomes in the past five years.
Six of those deaths occurred in the past two years and put law enforcement officers in the hot seat for the officers’ handling of high-speed pursuits. Caroline Gill, 15, and Maggie Dunn, 17 — students at Brusley High School — were killed on Dec. 31, 2022, when an Addis police officer joined the BRPD chase and crashed into the back of their car. Dunn’s older brother, Liam, was critically injured in the crash.
David Cauthron, the officer who drove 100 miles per hour moments before running a red light to cause the crash, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced March 18 by a West Baton Rouge judge to 10 years in prison.
Seven months before that crash across the river, Darien Rogers crashed his Dodge Charger into the car of 49-year-old Sherrell Weston while trying to outrun Baton Rouge police at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour. In September 2022, a passenger in a suspect’s vehicle was killed when the driver fled a stop and crashed after being followed by unmarked Baton Rouge police units. And a 56-year-old man was killed when his truck crossed the path of a fleeing driver trying to flee a police stop in Baton Rouge in March 2023.