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SHREVEPORT, LA
Shreveport Police Chief Comments On Claim Of Police Brutality

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A Shreveport Police officer at the heart of a police brutality claim was fired for "violating department policy," said the city's police chief on Wednesday.
Shreveport Police Chief Henry Whitehorn would not elaborate on the specifics of the violation by Officer Wiley Wills, saying the investigation into the brutality claim remains open.
Whitehorn spoke to reporters Wednesday morning about the case. A police video tape of Angie Garbarino that ends with her lying on the police room floor in a pool of her own blood made national news coverage over the last two days.
Whitehorn also said the FBI and the Justice Department have opened investigations into the matter.

From Feb. 19
KSLA News 12 has learned more about how the investigation began into the alleged beating of a female while she was in custody of Shreveport Police.
Angie Garbarino and her attorney, Ron Miciotto, say the investigation started with Shreveport Police Chief Henry Whitehorn.
KSLA News 12 talked to Garbarino Tuesday at her home. She didn't want to be interviewed on camera and referred us to Miciotto.
He gave us a copy of the tape which first shows Garbarino asking Officer Wiley Willis for a phone call, then demanding a phone call.
As Garbarino tries to walk out the door, she's put into handcuffs. The tape later shows a scuffle, then Willis appears to shut the camera off.
When the video resumes, Garbarino is lying in a pool of her own blood.
At one point she could be heard saying, "I wasn't even hurt that bad until he threw me onto the floor. Look at me."
When paramedics arrive, they asked one of the officers what happened, to which he replied, "she fell down."
Both Garbarino and Miciotto claim Whitehorn is the one who filed the internal affairs complaint, and that's when a two month investigation insued.
We put calls into the Shreveport Police Department Tuesday to request an interview with Chief Whitehorn. The chief will instead hold a new conference Wednesday morning at 11:00 a.m. That news conference can be seen live on ksla.com.
Mociotto also told us he will talk tomorrow.
In fact, he says his office and Garbarino are both being solicited by national news organizations as the story has reached beyond the Ark-La-Tex.
Late Tuesday afternoon KSLA News12 received a statement from Chief Whitehorn. He says, "After reviewing the evidence, we decided it was something that needed to be handled internally and there was not enough to pursue criminal charges."
Stay with KSLA News12 and ksla.com for further developments in this story.

From Feb. 18
A Shreveport Police officer has been fired, after a woman in police custody claims she was beaten by him.
Angie Garbarino says back on November 17th, while in police custody, she was beaten, and she has the pictures she says proves it.
Garbarino did not want to go on camera, but did tell us her side of the story.
On November 17th Garbarino says she was in police custody when she says the officer at the time, tried to give her a breathalyzer test.
Garbarino refused the test. At that point, she says she was beaten by the officer.
Garbarino's attorney has police video of Garbarino at the police station after she was taken into custody.
Garbarino says she was taken to Christus Schumpert Hospital with bruises all over her body, including two black eyes and a broken nose.
KSLA News 12 has learned the officer involved incident, Officer Wiley Willis, was fired over the weekend.
KSLA News 12 attempted to reach, Ron Miciotto, Garbarino's attorney and also Eron Brainard, the lawyer for Officer Willis for comments.
We also tried to talk to Police Chief Henry Whitehorn but so far, those calls have gone unanswered.
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