A grand jury recently indicted a Baton Rouge police officer for her role in a 2023 crash that killed a deaf man.
Sharmaine Buckley, 29, was racing to a call for backup when her vehicle slammed into the back of a Chevrolet Impala being driven by 38-year-old Caleb James Chappetta late on the night of Oct. 20, 2023.
She was traveling 79 mph — nearly twice the posted speed limit — when she went through 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 way” before she ran the traffic signal and struck Chappetta’s vehicle. The Baton Rouge man died at the scene.
A panel of special grand jurors found enough evidence to charge Buckley with negligent homicide charge during an Oct. 17 session, according to 19th Judicial District Court records. The indictment exposes Buckley to up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Prosecutors also charged her with reckless operation of a vehicle and two counts of negligent injuring on Oct. 17. Buckley is set to be arraigned before 19th Judicial District Court Commissioner Kina Kimble on Nov. 26, court records showed.
Buckley was a two-year veteran on the police force working in the Uniform Patrol Division. She was placed on administrative leave when the crash occurred.
According to a department spokesman, officers responded to reports of shots fired around 10:30 p.m. and issued a call for backup while taking fire from multiple people at South 16th and Government streets. Buckley was rushing to their aid with her lights and sirens activated in her marked Ford Explorer cruiser when she rear-ended Chappetta's car about two miles west of the shooting.
Chappetta had been deaf since birth, according to a wrongful-death lawsuit his father filed in federal court in August. Court records show Chappetta’s mother also filed a wrongful-death claim against Buckley, the city-parish and former Police Chief Murphy Paul in August. Two other victims involved in the multivehicle wreck sued Buckley and the city-parish for damages and personal injuries on Friday, 19th JDC records showed.
Police said Chappetta had a green light when he drove southbound along Foster Drive. Buckley was driving 79 mph in an area with a 40 mph speed limit when she barreled through the intersection, the arrest warrant stated. The lawsuits state the officer didn’t brake and the impact caused Chappetta’s body to be ejected 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, sustained moderate injuries, police reports and court records indicate. Sheridan was one of the plaintiffs who filed a personal injury claim last week.
Louisiana law states that the driver of an emergency vehicle can run red lights, “but only after slowing down or stopping as may be necessary for safe operation.” BRPD's own policy says that, when approaching an intersection controlled by a stop sign or a red light, officers should “slow their vehicle to a speed considered reasonable and which would allow them to bring their vehicle to a complete stop if necessary.”
A previously reported Advocate analysis showed BRPD officers initiated about 1,200 police chases from 2013 to 2023 — about one every three days. About 10% have had fatal consequences in the past five years.
Six of those deaths have happened in the past two years and put law enforcement officials on the hot seat for officers’ handling of high-speed pursuits. Caroline Gill, 15, and 17-year-old Maggie Dunn — students at Brusly High School — were killed Dec. 31, 2022, when an Addis police officer joined a BRPD pursuit and slammed into the back of their car. Dunn’s older brother, Liam, was critically injured in the crash.
David Cauthron, the officer who was driving 100 mph moments before he ran a red light to cause the crash, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, and on March 18 a West Baton Rouge judge ordered him to spend 10 years in prison.
Seven months before that crash across the river, Darrien Rogers slammed his Dodge Charger into 49-year-old Sherell Weston’s car while trying to outrun Baton Rouge police at speeds over 100 mph. In September 2022, a passenger in a suspect's vehicle died when the driver fled a traffic 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 escape a Baton Rouge police traffic stop in March 2023.