A civil rights lawsuit asserting both state and federal civil rights violations against the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office of Livingston Parish, Louisiana and the Denham Springs Police Department of Denham Springs, Louisiana. This case seeks justice in the face of racially-charged and unconstitutional law enforcement stop, use of force and arrest.
Late at night in May 2021, Alexander Clark was driving home from a long day of work as a drywall installer when he pulled over at a gas station to get gas and a soda. Twenty minutes later, accused only of failing to use his turn signal, Mr. Clark was swarmed by law enforcement from two agencies, shoved against the tailgate of his truck with one officer’s hands on his neck, his wrists yanked back by two deputies. In the minutes before this escalation, Mr. Clark had waited patiently while deputies ordered him out of his car, rummaged through his truck, yelled racially-charged accusations and demanded, over and again, “Where’s the crack? Gimme the crack!” When Mr. Clark took back a $20 bill that the officers had removed from his pockets, officers flocked him, injured him, arrested him, charged him with resisting an officer, and held him overnight in a detention facility.
Working with the Justice Lab of the ACLU of Louisiana, Trial Impact Project filed a complaint against the sheriff’s deputies of Livingston Parish and the officers of Denham Springs Police Department, alleging both state and federal causes of action, including violation of the Equal Protection Clause, Title VI intentional race discrimination, prolonged detention, unconstitutional searches, and use of excessive force. Even after the Fifth Circuit’s expansive reading of Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994) barred some of Mr. Clark’s claims, Trial Impact Project continued to work with the Justice Lab and the Southern Poverty Law Center to develop evidence that Livingston Parish deputies ticket Black drivers at rates far in excess of the population.
The parties are now awaiting a summary judgment decision on the remaining claims, which are slated for trial in late March 2026.
This case, along with Mills v. Connelly et al, is part of a larger effort throughout Louisiana to shine light on rampant police misconduct disproportionately targeting Black drivers throughout the state.
Mr. Clark is a long-time resident of Livingston Parish; he grew up in the nearly all-Black section of Denham Springs and was one of the few Black students to integrate the public white high school in Denham Springs in the 1960s. What happened to him is not unique: Every day in Livingston Parish, Black drivers have their lives upended when they are stopped for minor traffic violations, ticketed, and often arrested for anything or nothing in the process—in Mr. Clark’s case, taking back his own $20 bill from an officer who pulled it out of his pocket. This case and others like it hold law enforcement accountable and, in the aggregate, seek to change police conduct and policy.
“My dad always said, right is right. And what happened to me just ain’t right. I want justice for me and for my community,” said Mr. Clark. “This has been going on for too long. Enough is enough.”
The Social Justice Legal Foundation and the ACLU of Louisiana are representing Alexander Clark in a lawsuit against the Sheriff of Livingston Parish, several of his officers, the Chief of Police of Denham Springs, several of his officers, and the City of Denham Springs.
Collaborating with Cornerstone Research, the Trial Impact Project was able to show through the case that Black drivers in Livingston Parish are nearly seven times more likely to be ticketed for traffic violations than non-Black drivers. Our trial team produced this evidence to the Middle District of Louisiana as well as to the Chief Legal Officer of Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office.
