By JIM BUTLER

Fault for the death of Rose Marie Taylor following her arrest last year will be decided in federal court.

Charges, denials and countercharges will make their way through the system before it is decreed what truth is.  

Whichever way that eventually falls, two things seem clear at this point — one, Taylor was familiar with the drill when approached by officers, who, two, had cause to do so.

What happened then on the late afternoon of May 17, 2022 is where the rub is. 

The MacArthur Drive hotel parking lot in  question is known to law enforcement as one where illegal or illicit activity has taken place over some time.  Owners have posted no loitering notices to discourage dalliance by non-residents. Foot traffic is common. 

Officers spotting Taylor and her girlfriend in conversation on the lot, Taylor in her auto, the door open, the girlfriend standing outside, pulled in.

From that point, the plaintiff and defendant versions of what happened differ. 

Whether a complaint had resulted in their being dispatched to the scene or one was responding to another’s call for backup is not clear without access to radio logs and incident reports. 

When the officers got out of their vehicles, Taylor likely knew what was next. What unfolded, however, is a major point of disagreement.

What is not is that the officers allegedly found drugs and drug paraphernalia in the car. 

Taylor was ultimately charged with possession and possession with intent to distribute as well as resisting arrest, a key point of disagreement between the parties, and probation violation.

She had been arrested twice in 2021 on possession and distribution charges and once in 2020, according to parish records.

Taylor, booked just before 6 p.m., was found unresponsive in her cell two days later and died on May 30.

The family claims she was the victim of unwarranted physical restraint and violence by officers at the scene. The officers say such did not occur.

Body camera recordings which might shed light are not yet public record because State Police are investigating.

Records, recordings, video, etc., are shielded from the Sunshine Act as long as a probe continues.  

That investigation did not begin until months after Taylor’s death, a point of contention in the litigation. 

Versions of what caused Taylor’s death differ. The plaintiffs allege one physician called it homicide, and ask why it took so long for the matter to go to LSP; defendants counter several medical reasons likely caused the death, none related to any action by officers. 

An officer involved in Taylor’s hospital transfer is a co-defendant in the case, as is the city police department and the parish sheriff’s department, which operates the jail.

One of the arresting officers was previously a sheriff’s deputy, fired with another in 2019 by the previous sheriff after a State Police probe of hours claimed but allegedly not worked.

Three deputies in that probe were charged with payroll fraud in a case that quickly slipped from public attention. 

That is not likely to happen in the Taylor matter. 

It is being thoroughly aired in the court of public opinion and is an issue in the already-underway Rapides Parish sheriff election campaign. 

That voting, safe to say, will be long over before the litigation reaches the requested jury trial or is otherwise resolved in court.