May 27, 2025

End of Watch: Stephen Vincent

End of Watch: Stephen Vincent
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Season 7

In this episode of Unspeakable, KJ explores Trooper Stephen Vincent's tragic death in 2015 at the hands of Kevin Daigle while aiding a motorist.

Chapters
02:08 The Story of Stephen Vincent
08:59 The Day of the Incident
15:32 The Attack Unfolds
26:40 The Aftermath of the Shooting
30:47 The Search for Blake Brewer
41:09 The Discovery of Blake's Murder
51:21 Kevin Daigle's Defense
55:46 The Trial of Kevin Daigle

Video, Sound and Editing for Unspeakable: A True Crime Podcast by Kelly Jennings is provided by the podcast experts at Envision Podcast Studios in Denham Springs, LA.

Executive Producer: Jim Chapman

WEBVTT

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Welcome to Unspeakable, a true crime podcast where I tell

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stories of real crimes with real victims, whose cases are

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so shocking that many are left wondering how is this

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even real? I use my experiences in law enforcement corrections,

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and combined with my years as a criminal justice educator,

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dig deep into complex cases of evil acts, some so

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evil many feel they are unspeakable. Warning. Unspeakable as intended

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for mature audiences. If you are easily offended, then I'm

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not your girl. Listening discretion is advised. Hey, y'all, it's

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kJ You're back for another episode of Unspeakable. How's your

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week go in? I hope it's fantastic. I know I

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say that every time, but I really do. I know

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that you're tuning in and you're wanting a good story.

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So today's I'm really proud of I worked hard on

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this one. Before I started, though, I've got to scream

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how are you? And Hello all the way to Jones, Oklahoma,

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where Miss Kylie Bush is living and she is now

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a new crime family member. So what is going up? Kylie?

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How are you doing? Thank you so much for joining.

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I'm proud. It's punched to have you here and Thank

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you so much for tuning in and supporting this dream

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of mine that is just taken off. I'm so excited

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and the story today, though, I gotta say where my

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Lake Charles peeps at? Where are y'all? I know I

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got a lot of listeners in Lake Charles, and this

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one is actually going to be from your neck of

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the woods right there in calkashw Parish and Calcashue Parish,

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if you don't know, is now really kind of a

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destination place that people seek out if they have that

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taste of gambling and they love to go and have

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that gambling aspect, but with a resort feel to it

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because the area now has four major gaming and resort

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properties that are continuing to grow, continuing to boom, and

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it's got this coastal vibe to it because it's reasonably

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close to the Gulf of Mexico or dare I say

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the Gulf of America Now it's but it's very close

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to that. Lots of seafood, Cajun culture with the petrokim

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industry just leading this economic boom of that area. And

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I've done a few cases already from that area before,

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but this one hit different when it happened. I do

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remember when this happened, and everyone who's listening by now

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should know that I have an absolute heart for law

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enforcement and the type of person that it takes to

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do that job is a special one, and I will

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always stand on that hill that not everybody can do it.

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It's not meant for everybody. So this may make me

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sound old, and I'm okay with that, but I've always

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been a true fan of Paul Harvey and the explanations

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of people and the work that they do. And what

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actually drew me to Paul Harvey was when I first

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heard his what does a Policeman Take on the job?

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And it just is the lead as far as my

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favorite goes of the work that Paul Harvey did. So

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before I really get into this story, I want to

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play it for you, and I hope that you'll listen

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to these words, because I am telling you he nailed it.

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He nailed it in his explanation of what it's like

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from the police officer's point of view, the job that

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they do, and that it's it's really difficult. So take

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a second here, I'm going to play it for you

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and listen to what is a Policeman by Paul Harvey.

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Policeman A policeman, is it compositive? What all men are?

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I guess a mingling of Satan, center, dust, and deity

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called statistics wave. The fan over stinkers underscore instances of

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dishonesty and brutality because they are news. What that really

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means is that they are exceptional. They are unusual, They

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are not commonplace buried under the fraud is the fact,

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And the fact is the less than one half of

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one percent of policemen misfit that uniform, and that is

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a better average than you'd find among clergymen. What is

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a policeman? He, of all men, is at once the

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most needed and the most wanted, a strangely nameless creature

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who is served to his face and pig or worse

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behind his back. He must be such a diplomat that

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he can settle differences between individuals so that each will

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think he won. But if a policeman is neat, he's conceited.

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If he's careless, he's a bum. If he's pleasant, he's

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a flirt. If he's not, he's a grouch. He must

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make instant decisions, which would require months for a lawyer.

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But if he hurries, he's careless. If he's delivered, he's lazy.

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He must be first to an accident, infallible with the diagnosis.

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He must be able to start breathing, stop bleeding, ty splints,

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and above all, be sure the victim goes home without

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a limp or expect to be sued. The police officer

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must know every gun, draw on the run and hit

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where it doesn't hurt. He must be able to whip

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two men twice his size and half his age without

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damaging his uniform and without being brutal. If you hit him,

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he's a coward. If he hits you, he's a bully.

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A policeman must know everything and not tell. He must

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know where all of the sin is and not partake.

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The policeman from a single human hair must be able

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to describe the crime, the weapon, the criminal, and tell

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you where the criminal is hiding. But if he catches

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the criminal, he's lucky. If he doesn't, he's a dunce.

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If he gets promoted, he has political pool. If he doesn't,

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he's a dullar. The policeman must chase bum leads to

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a dead end, stake out ten nights to tag one

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witness who saw it happen, but refuses to remember. He

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runs files and writes reports until his eyes ache. To

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build a case against some felon who will get dealed

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out by a shameless, shamous or an honorable who isn't honorable.

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The policeman must be a minister, a social worker, a diplomat,

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a tough guy, and a gentleman. And of course he'll

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have to be a genius because he'll have to feed

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a family on a policeman's salary.

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So, now that you've heard that, I really think a

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lot of it. And if you've never done the job before,

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you've never researched or thought about what an officer goes

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through day in and day out. It's something that it

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really does have some good times, right, that you can

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save lives, and that you can help people, and you

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can stop tragedy, and you can run in buildings and

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do all those things whenever you're needed. But the reality

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is that there's a weight that goes with seeing trauma

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and tragedy day in and day out, dealing with drug

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addicts and abuse and just horrible things day in day out.

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It really takes an individual with a lot of grit

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to do that job. And all of that being said,

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police work was still the ideal job for a guy

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named Steven Vincent. And he was a lifelong resident of Ioway,

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which it's spelled Iowa if you do any research on this,

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it's spelled Iowa, but it is pronounced down here as Ioway.

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And Stephen Vincent graduated from Iowa High School. He went

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to LSU Unice and then he also attended at McNee

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State University, and then he started his law enforcement career

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at the Lake Charles City Police Department. This was something

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that he dreamed of doing, and eventually he would proudly apply,

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be accepted, and then ultimately graduate from the Louisiana State

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Police Academy. And for people who may not know this,

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that is the real deal. The Louisiana State Police are

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the real deal. They do not take their job lightly

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or casually. Those navy blue uniforms with the top hat

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that they put on, its crispin appearance oozes professionalism from

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head to toe and they are an agency that everyone

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here knows as soon as they see those uniforms. And

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we also know that once one of them lights you

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up on the roadway, you are getting a ticket. You're

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not getting out of it. You better slow down on

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that bridge from Baton Rouge all the way to Lafayette,

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and you better slow down because you are gonna get

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that ticket. And don't ask me how I know that

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I've but you know, I allegedly may or may not

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have had an experience or one hundred with them, and

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always a wonderful interaction ticket aside, And I've always loved

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their look and their presence, almost militaristic in vibe, if

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you know what I mean by the fact that they

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command respect when they arrive on scene just by uniform.

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It's very pristine. And this fit Stephen Vincent's lifestyle well,

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as he had spent a lot of time himself actually

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in the military. He was a proud US Army veteran.

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He served during Desert Storm. And this was a man

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of faith who embraced his Catholic upbringing and lovingly served

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at Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church. So the

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vibe that this man gives is one of and duty

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and commitment. Just in those few words that I think

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that I've shared with you about him. He married the

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love of his life. Her name's Katherine in this simple

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yet sweet beach ceremony and Catherine in her yellow or

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in her white dress, but it was so simple, and

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her yellow and white bouquet. It just radiated love in

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the simplicity. But the meaning behind their unity was just

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something that you would you feel in the photographs. And

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together they had a son that they would name Ethan,

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who they devoted their lives to. Raising him was their

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purpose after they had him. And I somewhat strangely identify

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with this family. I've never met them, in all honesty,

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I've never met them, but something about their life mirrors

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something in my life. I mean, I have family in

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Lake Charles. My stepsister lives there. They attend Catholic Church there,

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and she even named my nephew Ethan. So I feel

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this strange connection. I don't know if you do that,

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but when I listen to stories, I almost try to

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put myself in these stories and how I would feel

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in that situation. And then to know that they lived

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there and they named their kids there, it's just the

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same names. It's kind of interesting to me, but I

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feel that connection. And Steven's brothers even they had this

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plight of the law enforcement officer and that his brother

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became chief of police in that area, and another one

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a Master trooper, married to none other than a woman

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named Kelly. So I guess you could say it was

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in their blood to serve the community that they were

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raised in. And I admire that so much in these

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people and in that family. So Catherine and Stephen had

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settled in and they had built this beautiful life together.

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Nothing overly extravagant, just like me and you, getting up

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every day, running the rat race of life, work, home,

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errand's dinner, sleep, repeat, and try in some way to

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have a little fun and family time in between. And

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they're a tight knit group. They enjoyed holidays together. They

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would cook gumbos at Christmas and we all do that.

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I don't know if you know that, but we always

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cook a good gumbo at Christmas. And they also loved

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the great outdoors, swimming, exploring the woods. That was the

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kind of things that they loved to do. Stephen had

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been assigned to Troop D for the past thirteen years,

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and Troop D serves five parishes in the area, including

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Calcashue Parish, and he was good at his job. He

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was considered to be a very knowledgeable officer, someone that

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you could depend on, someone that understood the job, and

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he did it well. And to become a master trooper,

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that's what he was, Master trooper Vincent. To become a

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master trooper, that means that you had to have moved

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up in rank. You start as a cadet and then

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a trooper, master trooper, sergeant, lieutenant, etc. Stephen looked the

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part of the state trooper too. He was clean cut, thin,

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sporting his big thick black watch that just I don't know,

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it just looks so professional, and it looked so good.

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And he held that high and tight haircut that you

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would expect of a man in that position, and his

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hair was sending a little bit on top, but you

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would never know that because what that trooper had in place,

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you couldn't tell. His face has a kindness to it,

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but also an a firmness about it that when it

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was time to handle business, he would do it. His

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face absolutely though, would soften immediately whenever he was around

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his son. He saw the best of him when he

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looked at his baby boy, who, as this story takes place,

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is now a young boy, no longer just a baby.

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They love to watch the Saints football team play. They

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would just watch with excitement together and they even both

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would sport jerseys on game day, sport in their favorite players,

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and Ethan was his daddy's pal and time together was

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just never enough for the two of them. But now

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old enough to be a Cub scout, Stephen proudly attended

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camping trips with his cub, took him to bass Pro

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for boys trips, and just really did this son dad

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thing you expect of a Southern gentleman who loves his

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baby boy. They fished together, they rode rides at Disney World,

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and really just everything you would want. It's almost you

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would envy that if you were looking for a father's

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son relationship. Ethan had a wonderful, loving set of parents.

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They adored him. They may have been a small family,

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but they had an immense amount of love in their household.

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Stephen was active too. He loved to run. Marathons were

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something that he was very interested in and before he

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ran as very first one. He was a guy that

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00:14:48.360 --> 00:14:51.039
liked to read and research and learn about things, and

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00:14:51.279 --> 00:14:54.519
he sent his wife Catherine an article on Phytipides, who

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00:14:54.600 --> 00:14:57.559
was a Grecian runner who is regarded if you don't

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00:14:57.639 --> 00:15:00.919
know as the catalyst for the modern marathon, and Stephen

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00:15:01.039 --> 00:15:04.759
was fascinated with the story about him and made it

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00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:08.159
a future goal to one day run in the Athens

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00:15:08.440 --> 00:15:14.679
Classic Marathon. So testing his limits and perseverance and grit

246
00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:17.799
were something that were just undeniable in Stephen, and maybe

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00:15:17.960 --> 00:15:20.080
that's why he was such a good State trooper. He

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00:15:20.200 --> 00:15:23.639
just had that it factor that it took. So he

249
00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:26.840
and Catherine had just celebrated their twelfth wedding anniversary when

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00:15:26.879 --> 00:15:32.519
Steven started his workweek on a typical steaming hot August day.

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He was August twenty fourth, twenty fifteen, and he got up,

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00:15:35.440 --> 00:15:37.720
he got dressed, he kissed his family goodbye, and he

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00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:40.000
went out to his police unit where he officially went

254
00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:42.440
ten eight on the radio to start his shift. In

255
00:15:42.519 --> 00:15:44.960
ten eight that's the radio code said in dispatch when

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00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:47.519
a law enforcement officers in service and ready to take

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00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:50.559
calls for the day. So he began his shift and

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00:15:50.600 --> 00:15:52.879
he worked throughout the day answering the calls for service,

259
00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:56.919
assisting motorists, and just doing his daily tasks as usual.

260
00:15:57.960 --> 00:16:00.399
But a little later that same day, a man named

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00:16:00.440 --> 00:16:03.240
Robert Ledoux was traveling down the road near the intersection

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00:16:03.240 --> 00:16:06.559
of Highway fourteen and Fruge Road, and he saw flashing

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00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:09.559
lights about a quarter of a mile up ahead of him,

264
00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:13.080
and realizing that this was a state trooper, he immediately

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00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:15.639
slowed down his jeep a bit because we all know

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00:16:15.720 --> 00:16:18.039
I told you you're gonna get that ticket. So he

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00:16:18.039 --> 00:16:20.200
slowed that jeep down a little bit as he got closer.

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00:16:20.519 --> 00:16:23.200
But something just did not seem right about what he

269
00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:26.279
saw up ahead, because usually you've all seen an officer

270
00:16:26.279 --> 00:16:28.279
pull somebody over before. Usually they're kind of off to

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00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:31.679
the side of the road and maybe kind of angled

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00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:33.960
a little bit for a strategic pull up behind the person,

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00:16:34.039 --> 00:16:37.080
and maybe they're standing beside the vehicle. But it's not

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00:16:37.279 --> 00:16:41.399
normal that there be a group of men standing there

275
00:16:41.480 --> 00:16:46.480
waving frantically at oncoming traffic. So uh oh, he thought,

276
00:16:46.519 --> 00:16:48.399
as he slowed down to kind of assess what was

277
00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:50.879
going on. So as he got closer to those two

278
00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:53.919
men that were waving him down, they were yelling at him,

279
00:16:53.960 --> 00:16:57.279
turn around, turn around, do not go further. These two

280
00:16:57.279 --> 00:16:59.600
guys' names were Charlie and Sam, and they were unsure

281
00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:02.879
of them so of the situation ahead, but they could

282
00:17:02.919 --> 00:17:06.440
tell that something dangerous was happening ahead of them. So

283
00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:08.559
both of these guys looked to be in their mid twenties.

284
00:17:08.680 --> 00:17:11.200
Just good old country fellas is the only way I

285
00:17:11.240 --> 00:17:14.640
can describe them. Not sketchy, just country. One of them

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00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:18.480
was tall, strawberry blonde with a beard, and the other

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00:17:18.519 --> 00:17:21.680
one brown headed, a little bit shorter. But they definitely

288
00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:24.640
had the look of alarm about them. And it was

289
00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:27.279
just too bizarre for Robert to follow their instructions because

290
00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:31.480
it just didn't set right. So Robert Ledoux decided he

291
00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:34.119
wasn't going anywhere. He wasn't turning around. He pulled up,

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00:17:34.119 --> 00:17:37.039
and he got out of his vehicle, and, wanting to

293
00:17:37.079 --> 00:17:39.119
know more about it, he approached as the other two

294
00:17:39.160 --> 00:17:41.680
men started yelling at him, get out of here. Back up.

295
00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:43.839
We just saw a guy. He's brandishing a gun, right

296
00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:47.319
they are, back up, man, go. But the thing about

297
00:17:47.319 --> 00:17:50.160
a good old country boy is a gun ain't scary,

298
00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:54.480
just so you know, bad people with a gun. Now

299
00:17:54.559 --> 00:17:57.839
that will cause a moment of reflection. But Robert wouldn't

300
00:17:57.880 --> 00:18:00.480
have that much time to contemplate anything really about it,

301
00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:03.079
because he thought to himself, what do you mean, what

302
00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:04.799
do you mean there's a guy with a gun down there.

303
00:18:04.799 --> 00:18:06.559
Of course there's a cop. What do you mean? And

304
00:18:06.599 --> 00:18:09.039
the guy says, don't go down there. That guy's got

305
00:18:09.079 --> 00:18:11.519
a gun, and he's pointing down in the general direction

306
00:18:11.640 --> 00:18:14.319
of a vehicle that was down in the ditch just

307
00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:18.759
ahead of the trooper's parked vehicle, lights still flashing, and

308
00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:21.880
that vehicle was a like a maroon truck, and it

309
00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:24.039
did have a camper shell type cover on it, but

310
00:18:24.039 --> 00:18:26.599
it was down in the ditch. But as soon as

311
00:18:26.759 --> 00:18:29.960
Robert heard the words, he never skipped a beat, heading

312
00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:32.599
straight towards the officer's vehicle to see if maybe that

313
00:18:32.680 --> 00:18:35.279
officer needed his help in some way. So as he

314
00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:37.799
got closer, Robert could see that there was a trooper

315
00:18:37.880 --> 00:18:41.079
on the ground and he was not moving. He also

316
00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:45.839
saw another man now standing over that trooper, and that

317
00:18:45.880 --> 00:18:49.039
guy was digging through the trooper's pockets. So Robert continued

318
00:18:49.079 --> 00:18:51.960
moving closer, and the man looked up at him while

319
00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:56.079
simultaneously yanking on the down trooper's gun, trying clumsily to

320
00:18:56.119 --> 00:18:58.359
remove it from the holster. And if you have never

321
00:18:58.440 --> 00:19:01.839
dealt with a like police officers have, this is not

322
00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:05.079
easily done, and that's on purpose, because they have multiple

323
00:19:05.079 --> 00:19:08.559
point retentions on them so that the gun isn't removed easily.

324
00:19:09.200 --> 00:19:11.880
And the man looked straight up while he was jerking

325
00:19:11.920 --> 00:19:14.680
on this weapon. He looked dead in Robert le'doux's eyes,

326
00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:16.960
and he barked, everything's all right, mind your own business,

327
00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:20.279
and you need to go well. Robert felt a chill

328
00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:23.519
go down his spine when he made eye contact with

329
00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:26.160
that man, because on that man's face was a look

330
00:19:26.200 --> 00:19:30.000
of none other than desperation, and his eyes in that

331
00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:35.839
flash of a moment, had pure evil behind them. So

332
00:19:36.039 --> 00:19:38.319
in Robert's mind, in that split second, there's a good

333
00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:40.720
guy on the ground, not moving, and there's another guy

334
00:19:40.759 --> 00:19:43.880
trying to steal his gun. The man was jerking so

335
00:19:44.119 --> 00:19:47.160
hard on the trooper's belt that it was lifting his

336
00:19:47.319 --> 00:19:50.599
lifeless body off the ground. He was jerking so hard

337
00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:55.000
while he stared down Robert. Well, I don't know about you, listen,

338
00:19:55.119 --> 00:19:56.920
I don't even know where you are right now, but

339
00:19:57.000 --> 00:19:59.680
that's cause for an ass kicking as far as the

340
00:19:59.720 --> 00:20:03.200
south this concern. And Robert Ledoux wasn't armed, but he

341
00:20:03.319 --> 00:20:05.640
wasn't gonna wait for backup to arrive. He had to

342
00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:07.640
do something. And I want to tell you Robert's a

343
00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:10.200
healthy boy, okay, Robert, And when I say boy, he's

344
00:20:10.200 --> 00:20:13.000
a man. Okay, Robert is a healthy dude. But he

345
00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:15.839
can move that weight when it matters, which is exactly

346
00:20:15.880 --> 00:20:19.440
what he did as he charged at that man. The

347
00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:22.680
thing was that man was armed, not because he was

348
00:20:22.759 --> 00:20:25.480
jerking on the gun of the officer, but because he

349
00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:27.839
had a sawed off shotgun with him, which he was

350
00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:30.440
more than happy to fire to anyone who got in

351
00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:34.240
his way. But undeterred, Robert took off running and tackled

352
00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:36.480
his ass. Not only did he tackle him, he tackled

353
00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:41.160
him fucking hard, slamming him down, using his left shoulder

354
00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:43.480
for the brunt of the blow and all of his weight,

355
00:20:43.640 --> 00:20:46.799
just taking that dude down straight to the pavement, and

356
00:20:46.839 --> 00:20:50.920
they both tumbled, and Robert was able to keep that

357
00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:54.200
man just under his sheer weight on the ground, shoving

358
00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:57.960
his face into the pavement. Well, Charlie and Sam, who

359
00:20:57.960 --> 00:20:59.880
had tried to warn him, don't go up there, why

360
00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:03.319
stroll of this unfold? And when they saw Robert take

361
00:21:03.319 --> 00:21:06.359
off running and tackle the man, they immediately took off

362
00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:08.920
after him as well to go help and subdue him.

363
00:21:09.240 --> 00:21:12.119
And so they got on top of him and Robert

364
00:21:12.200 --> 00:21:15.319
was able to get off for a second, those two

365
00:21:15.400 --> 00:21:17.839
guys held him down. Robert was able to go grab

366
00:21:17.880 --> 00:21:20.599
the troopers handcuffs and then ran back over and they

367
00:21:20.680 --> 00:21:24.599
worked as a three man team to wrestle this guy down,

368
00:21:25.079 --> 00:21:28.640
pin him to the ground, and place the cuffs on

369
00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:33.039
the guy. So the two guys, Charlie and Sam remained

370
00:21:33.079 --> 00:21:36.359
on top of this unknown guy who was continuing to

371
00:21:36.440 --> 00:21:39.640
fight them while Robert got up and he ran back

372
00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:42.680
over to that officer to check on him. And seeing

373
00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:48.480
that officer was nothing less than traumatic because he was

374
00:21:48.519 --> 00:21:51.559
in grave condition. So Robert dropped down to his knees

375
00:21:51.799 --> 00:21:53.400
to see if there was anything he could do to

376
00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:57.279
help this trooper. And Robert was once a volunteer firefighter,

377
00:21:57.359 --> 00:22:00.000
so he knew the basics, but this was a horraze

378
00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:02.839
in this situation that he was looking at, and right

379
00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:05.599
in that moment, the trooper began to vomit, so Robert

380
00:22:05.640 --> 00:22:07.920
grabbed him by his shoulders and he rolled him over

381
00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:10.359
on his side and did everything he could to attempt

382
00:22:10.359 --> 00:22:12.559
to clear the airway of this officer so he would

383
00:22:12.599 --> 00:22:15.319
not choke on his own vomit. And when traumatic things

384
00:22:15.319 --> 00:22:18.920
are happening, It's kind of funny how your brain is

385
00:22:19.000 --> 00:22:22.599
thinking one thousand miles a second, but everything tends to

386
00:22:22.640 --> 00:22:26.480
slow down all at one time. And when Robert rolled

387
00:22:26.559 --> 00:22:29.960
that trooper over, he was able to quickly see the

388
00:22:30.039 --> 00:22:33.440
name tag, and in that moment he realized this was

389
00:22:33.480 --> 00:22:36.759
the man that last gave me a ticket, and it

390
00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:40.599
was none other than Master Trooper Stephen Vincent. It had

391
00:22:40.599 --> 00:22:43.079
been ten years prior and Robert was rushing to the

392
00:22:43.119 --> 00:22:45.880
airport trying to catch a flight to Colorado when Trooper

393
00:22:45.960 --> 00:22:48.880
Vincent lit him up and pulled him over, And when

394
00:22:48.880 --> 00:22:51.440
he walked up, he jokingly told Robert, if you can

395
00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:53.200
give me a good enough excuse, I might not write

396
00:22:53.240 --> 00:22:56.640
you a ticket. And that day Robert learned that missing

397
00:22:56.680 --> 00:22:59.480
a flight wasn't considered a good excuse, and he got

398
00:22:59.559 --> 00:23:03.039
that ticket. But flashing back to the situation at hand,

399
00:23:03.359 --> 00:23:06.519
Robert ran to the police unit as fast as he could,

400
00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:08.559
and he tried to open the door, but he was

401
00:23:08.680 --> 00:23:11.960
eventually able to lean in through the passenger's window and

402
00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:15.160
he reached and he snatched the radio off the dash,

403
00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:17.680
And he didn't know how to speak proper police radio

404
00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:20.000
etiquette per se, but he knew how to ask for help,

405
00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:22.440
when that's exactly what he did. He grabbed the radio,

406
00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:25.960
he keyed up. Officer down, officer down, he's hurt, Please

407
00:23:25.960 --> 00:23:28.039
send help. And all of this was heard by the

408
00:23:28.079 --> 00:23:30.240
dispatchers in the nine one one center, and they knew

409
00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:32.359
that this was bad, and it had to be really

410
00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:35.240
bad because if Steven could not call for help himself,

411
00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:40.000
something had to be stopping him. And Robert even said,

412
00:23:40.039 --> 00:23:43.440
get airmed here. You got to get somebody here now, hurry,

413
00:23:44.039 --> 00:23:46.680
and then he ran directly back to go check on Stephen.

414
00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:51.640
Now you may not know this, but when a police

415
00:23:51.640 --> 00:23:54.200
officer pulls up to pull you over, he's gonna radio

416
00:23:54.279 --> 00:23:57.480
in his location. He's gonna give what type of vehicle

417
00:23:57.480 --> 00:23:59.720
he's with, he'll give a license plate, and all of

418
00:23:59.759 --> 00:24:02.359
that is done for situations just like this that if

419
00:24:02.359 --> 00:24:05.559
they can't radio out their location, their last known location

420
00:24:05.640 --> 00:24:10.240
will at least already be known in dispatch. So when

421
00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:14.319
Robert ran back to Stephen's side, his attention shifted momentarily

422
00:24:14.359 --> 00:24:16.720
to the man that they had subdued, and he was

423
00:24:16.759 --> 00:24:22.000
fighting those two younger guys hard, even in handcuffs. I

424
00:24:22.039 --> 00:24:25.079
want you to understand that people can put up an

425
00:24:25.119 --> 00:24:28.000
incredible fight in handcuffs. Just because they are in them

426
00:24:28.039 --> 00:24:29.839
does not mean that they are not still deadly and

427
00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:33.400
not still dangerous. Guys and handcuffs have killed police officers,

428
00:24:33.559 --> 00:24:35.400
so please don't let that give you a false sense

429
00:24:35.400 --> 00:24:38.519
of security about people. And the man was fighting so

430
00:24:38.599 --> 00:24:41.319
fiercely that he even bucked one of the guys off

431
00:24:41.640 --> 00:24:45.599
that were on top of them, So that man may

432
00:24:45.640 --> 00:24:47.839
have thought he was tough in that moment, but he

433
00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:51.720
did not realize who he was messing with. Because as

434
00:24:51.759 --> 00:24:54.039
he's thrashing and fighting the two young guys on top

435
00:24:54.079 --> 00:24:55.759
of him, at one point he looks up and he

436
00:24:55.880 --> 00:24:59.839
freezes because what he saw was Robert now standing over him,

437
00:25:00.319 --> 00:25:04.960
pointing that deputy's gun straight at his head. He had

438
00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:07.920
removed Trooper Vincent's weapon from the holster, and when he

439
00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:10.079
ran over there, he had now drawn down on the man,

440
00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:13.119
straight to his face, and he told him, if you

441
00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:15.799
don't stay down, this is not going to end pretty.

442
00:25:17.319 --> 00:25:19.839
So the man seemed pissed, but in that moment he

443
00:25:19.880 --> 00:25:23.319
also realized, I think I'm screwed here, and he calmed down.

444
00:25:24.599 --> 00:25:27.720
So while that was happening, Charlie, one of the guys

445
00:25:27.759 --> 00:25:29.359
he got up and he ran over to go check

446
00:25:29.359 --> 00:25:32.839
on the officer too, and just was overwhelmed whenever he

447
00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:35.279
realized that this officer had not opened his eyes or

448
00:25:35.359 --> 00:25:38.039
responded at any moment since they had come upon him.

449
00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:41.319
But whether he could hear Charlie or not, Charlie really

450
00:25:41.480 --> 00:25:44.759
wanted to comfort him if he was able to. He

451
00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:48.160
consistently spoke to the trooper Vincent, and he reassured him,

452
00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:51.480
you're safe, You're safe. We're here, We've got you, we

453
00:25:51.559 --> 00:25:54.559
are gonna protect you. And he gently wiped the trooper's

454
00:25:54.640 --> 00:25:56.880
face as he waited for help, trying to keep the

455
00:25:56.920 --> 00:25:59.920
blood from getting into his eyes and clearing his mouth

456
00:26:00.039 --> 00:26:02.559
to make sure that he could breathe. But Stephen was

457
00:26:02.640 --> 00:26:06.000
laying so still he did not move periodically, though he

458
00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:09.039
would clench his fists while he was breathing so heavily,

459
00:26:09.119 --> 00:26:12.440
almost hyperventilating at times, but not responding to anything that

460
00:26:12.480 --> 00:26:14.960
was said to him. And I find it the ultimate

461
00:26:15.400 --> 00:26:19.680
display of pure masculinity when a man can be so

462
00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:23.920
tender towards another man who is a stranger to him,

463
00:26:24.680 --> 00:26:28.160
but doing what he can to make sure he felt

464
00:26:28.599 --> 00:26:34.119
comforted in a time of just terror and exhaustion, as

465
00:26:34.759 --> 00:26:38.559
Steven's brain just tried to deal with the trauma that

466
00:26:38.640 --> 00:26:41.880
it had happened to him. And it was about that

467
00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:46.519
time that the cavalry could be heard approaching. Because officers

468
00:26:46.559 --> 00:26:49.559
are going to show up in full force, lights and silent,

469
00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:53.000
sirens wailing while they're en route to come help a

470
00:26:53.079 --> 00:26:57.319
downed brother and a friend. So this is too, one

471
00:26:57.359 --> 00:26:59.359
of the worst things that you can ever hear over

472
00:26:59.359 --> 00:27:01.960
the radio that one of your own is down, gravely

473
00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:05.519
injured and not responding. Trooper Ben Fox had worked with

474
00:27:05.599 --> 00:27:08.519
Stephen for roughly four years. Whenever he heard that call

475
00:27:08.559 --> 00:27:11.079
for help over the radio, and his mind was racing

476
00:27:11.359 --> 00:27:14.079
as he flew to that scene. And as he pulled up,

477
00:27:14.119 --> 00:27:15.960
he saw Stephen Lane on the ground next to his

478
00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:19.519
police car and there was a ton of blood. Even

479
00:27:19.519 --> 00:27:23.960
from a distance, Ben could tell that this had been

480
00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:29.240
a very brutal scene that had unfolded. Another trooper, Joey Babineaut,

481
00:27:29.519 --> 00:27:31.680
drove almost one hundred and thirty miles per hour in

482
00:27:31.720 --> 00:27:34.599
his unit with his lights and sirens wailing to try

483
00:27:34.599 --> 00:27:36.640
to get to Stephen, and when he got there, it

484
00:27:36.680 --> 00:27:39.839
was obvious, very obvious to him who the bad guy was,

485
00:27:39.920 --> 00:27:43.359
considering there was multiple men holding down another one and

486
00:27:43.400 --> 00:27:46.400
not letting him move, so he immediately jumped into police mode,

487
00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:49.359
pulled out his cuffs, and ran over to go and

488
00:27:49.400 --> 00:27:51.799
subdue the man, but he was taken aback when he

489
00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:55.640
realized this guy's already in cuffs. How did he get

490
00:27:55.640 --> 00:28:00.200
in cuffs? So confused, the men advised Trooper Babineaux, we

491
00:28:00.279 --> 00:28:02.440
cuffed him. We took the officer's cuffs, and we put

492
00:28:02.480 --> 00:28:05.599
him on him. So they got the guy up, secured

493
00:28:05.680 --> 00:28:09.119
him in a police unit, and then Trooper Babineaux ran

494
00:28:09.160 --> 00:28:11.720
back to Stephen's side, where it was just gut wrenching

495
00:28:11.759 --> 00:28:14.240
what he saw, and he had a towel wrapped around

496
00:28:14.279 --> 00:28:16.640
his head. There was blood pouring out of his ears

497
00:28:17.440 --> 00:28:21.839
very clearly. There was a gunshot bullet hole in the

498
00:28:21.880 --> 00:28:25.440
center of Trooper Vincent's forehead and another one that was

499
00:28:25.480 --> 00:28:28.400
over his left eyebrow, and there was a couple of

500
00:28:28.440 --> 00:28:32.880
scratches on his jaw. Stephen was unconscious, but he was breathing,

501
00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:35.279
and this just gave a little bit of hope to

502
00:28:35.920 --> 00:28:39.160
Babineau as he just lay over his friend, and while

503
00:28:39.160 --> 00:28:42.079
he was unsure of any worldly help that he could give.

504
00:28:42.440 --> 00:28:45.640
Trooper Vencent in that moment that could even make a difference.

505
00:28:45.960 --> 00:28:48.880
He then decided to take up prayer with him, and

506
00:28:48.920 --> 00:28:52.039
he lay his hands on his fellow trooper and his brother,

507
00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:55.240
and he began to pray, our Father, who arn't in heaven,

508
00:28:55.480 --> 00:28:58.200
how it'd be thy name, Thy Kingdom, Come, Thy will

509
00:28:58.240 --> 00:29:00.400
be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give

510
00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:03.400
us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our truspasses,

511
00:29:03.680 --> 00:29:06.240
as we forgive those who trespassed against us. And lead

512
00:29:06.319 --> 00:29:09.519
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For

513
00:29:09.640 --> 00:29:13.240
Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, glory, forever and ever. Amen.

514
00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:16.400
And he said it twice because it's all he could

515
00:29:16.400 --> 00:29:19.839
get out in that moment, and he just wanted God

516
00:29:19.839 --> 00:29:22.559
to hear his prayers. Help my friend do what you

517
00:29:22.640 --> 00:29:25.599
can do. Please don't let him die here, And he

518
00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:28.799
instinctively tried to shield everyone from seeing how bad their

519
00:29:29.079 --> 00:29:31.720
fellow brother in blue was injured. About that time, a

520
00:29:31.720 --> 00:29:34.519
Metavac helicopter was cleared to land, and they all worked

521
00:29:34.519 --> 00:29:37.640
to quickly load Troop Prevents it into the chopper, and

522
00:29:37.680 --> 00:29:40.640
Trooper Babineau wrote in that helicopter and flew with him

523
00:29:40.920 --> 00:29:43.640
as it took off towards Late Charles Memorial Hospital, and

524
00:29:43.759 --> 00:29:47.559
he continued to squeeze a bag valve mask over Troue

525
00:29:47.559 --> 00:29:50.799
Pervensan's face to try to just help him breathe. And

526
00:29:50.880 --> 00:29:53.359
as sick as it made him to think about it,

527
00:29:53.559 --> 00:29:55.160
he knew that he was going to have to face

528
00:29:55.200 --> 00:29:57.680
Catherine at some point and tell her the news and

529
00:29:57.720 --> 00:29:59.839
his baby boy, Oh my god. The thought it was

530
00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:02.960
too much to think about what was about to happen.

531
00:30:04.200 --> 00:30:06.559
But the chopper landed and Stephen was rushed inside where

532
00:30:06.599 --> 00:30:10.319
advanced life saving care began. And exhausted by all of it,

533
00:30:10.759 --> 00:30:13.319
Trooper Babineau took a moment to just catch his breath

534
00:30:13.359 --> 00:30:17.799
and collect himself and readied his thoughts for how he

535
00:30:17.880 --> 00:30:21.200
was going to break this news to Catherine, So he

536
00:30:21.319 --> 00:30:23.559
decided to take the upfront approach to be to the

537
00:30:23.599 --> 00:30:26.720
point and direct, and he called her and said, look,

538
00:30:26.839 --> 00:30:29.920
I'm I'm not going to sugarcoat this, but Stephen was attacked.

539
00:30:30.359 --> 00:30:34.759
He's been shot, and this is not good. So family

540
00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:38.119
and friends and officers alike all flooded the hospital to

541
00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:40.680
await the news and to legit prey for a miracle

542
00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:43.920
because he was gonna need it. But back at the scene,

543
00:30:44.400 --> 00:30:48.000
the identity of the man who had attacked Stephen was realized,

544
00:30:48.200 --> 00:30:51.039
and police identified him as fifty four year old Kevin Dagele.

545
00:30:51.480 --> 00:30:55.279
Now Dagele is a bald man and his skin is

546
00:30:55.480 --> 00:30:58.880
deeply weathered and wrinkled around his eyes, his forehead, and

547
00:30:58.920 --> 00:31:03.880
his mouth. His face just evidence of hard living, if

548
00:31:03.920 --> 00:31:07.000
you know what I mean. His facial expressions remained stern,

549
00:31:07.079 --> 00:31:10.799
almost glaring, as he stared at the people around him,

550
00:31:10.839 --> 00:31:14.079
trying to understand what had happened. And much to Robert

551
00:31:14.119 --> 00:31:16.839
Ledoux's observation of the evil in his eyes, I'd have

552
00:31:16.960 --> 00:31:21.000
to agree that he emotes a very stark and serious

553
00:31:21.079 --> 00:31:23.759
look about him when you're looking at him. The men

554
00:31:23.759 --> 00:31:28.559
that held him down Charlie and Sam Edmondson, it was

555
00:31:28.559 --> 00:31:34.440
actually Charlie Burser and Sam Edmondson. They clearly tussled with

556
00:31:34.519 --> 00:31:37.000
this guy too, and when they slammed him too the ground,

557
00:31:37.359 --> 00:31:40.720
Robert got him his face down in that pavement, and

558
00:31:40.799 --> 00:31:43.119
it was obvious there had been a struggle because his

559
00:31:43.279 --> 00:31:46.000
cheeks were red and scratched up. His nose was scratched

560
00:31:46.079 --> 00:31:48.440
up as well, but it was nothing compared to the

561
00:31:48.480 --> 00:31:52.319
injuries that Trooper Vincent had sustained and in contrast to

562
00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:56.799
truper Vincent's life, which was well lived and a spirit

563
00:31:56.839 --> 00:32:00.519
of service to others the forefront of what he did.

564
00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:06.359
Stephen and Kevin Dagele may have come from the same town,

565
00:32:06.680 --> 00:32:10.839
but they absolutely went down completely different paths in life

566
00:32:10.880 --> 00:32:14.079
because for the past twenty years of his life, Kevin

567
00:32:14.319 --> 00:32:16.759
had been in and out of prison. He's your typical

568
00:32:17.240 --> 00:32:23.519
failure to launch situation of drugs, alcohol and sheer lawlessness.

569
00:32:23.960 --> 00:32:26.279
And I don't mean to sound jaded whenever I say that,

570
00:32:26.319 --> 00:32:28.480
but that's exactly what we're dealing with when I'm talking

571
00:32:28.480 --> 00:32:32.160
about this one. Kevin never went far in life, yet

572
00:32:31.440 --> 00:32:37.640
his being left a path of destruction everywhere that he went.

573
00:32:38.480 --> 00:32:42.000
And to start, I gotta tell you this, Kevin had

574
00:32:42.079 --> 00:32:47.000
only just been out of jail like that March before

575
00:32:47.039 --> 00:32:49.599
this incident happened. He had been locked up, he was

576
00:32:49.680 --> 00:32:53.720
released in March. This went down in August, but what

577
00:32:54.039 --> 00:32:58.559
happened was still in question. What in the world transpired

578
00:32:58.599 --> 00:33:00.960
to cause Stephen to lay fighting for his life at

579
00:33:00.960 --> 00:33:06.160
a hospital with two gunshot wounds to the head. Kevin

580
00:33:06.839 --> 00:33:10.200
was clearly not a good dude, and this whole situation

581
00:33:10.359 --> 00:33:14.519
was an insane amount of violence to have happened, but

582
00:33:15.319 --> 00:33:19.359
what went on here was not very clear. Kevin Dagel

583
00:33:19.880 --> 00:33:23.200
was well known to law enforcement across Calcashu and Jefferson

584
00:33:23.400 --> 00:33:27.519
Davis parishes in southwest Louisiana because he was always in

585
00:33:27.599 --> 00:33:30.480
trouble and he would be I guess what we would

586
00:33:30.519 --> 00:33:32.960
refer to as a frequent flyer in our area because

587
00:33:32.960 --> 00:33:35.880
he had a variety of crimes. He had been arrested

588
00:33:36.400 --> 00:33:40.319
over a dozen times. This guy was just a total

589
00:33:40.759 --> 00:33:43.640
fuck up, dating all the way back to nineteen ninety seven.

590
00:33:44.160 --> 00:33:47.039
You know, he committed criminal damage to property. In two

591
00:33:47.039 --> 00:33:50.839
thousand and one, he burglarized a church. He was obviously

592
00:33:50.880 --> 00:33:53.119
prone to violence. In two thousand and three, he was

593
00:33:53.200 --> 00:33:57.599
arrested for assaulting a police officer, But his main issue

594
00:33:58.119 --> 00:34:01.920
seemed to be with alcohol, because he had multiple counts

595
00:34:01.960 --> 00:34:07.599
of driving while intoxicated over the years. Probably tied to

596
00:34:07.720 --> 00:34:10.400
his drinking behavior was a disturbing the peace charge he

597
00:34:10.440 --> 00:34:13.199
had picked up in twenty twelve, and then he got

598
00:34:13.199 --> 00:34:15.280
wild again in twenty twelve when he was also charged

599
00:34:15.320 --> 00:34:20.119
with arson. What did he light on fire? I bet

600
00:34:20.159 --> 00:34:22.840
you might want to know this because I was curious.

601
00:34:22.840 --> 00:34:24.920
What did he light on fire. What was he burning down?

602
00:34:25.280 --> 00:34:27.159
Was he trying to get insurance money or something, you know,

603
00:34:27.360 --> 00:34:29.800
something of that nature. No, it was his own mother's

604
00:34:29.840 --> 00:34:33.920
house that he lit on fire. He had served prison

605
00:34:33.960 --> 00:34:37.599
time from twenty twelve to twenty fourteen for that felony

606
00:34:37.719 --> 00:34:41.679
arson conviction, and then he couldn't act right while he

607
00:34:41.719 --> 00:34:45.599
was out on parole because that had been revoked when

608
00:34:45.599 --> 00:34:48.239
he got a third offense DWI that he was picked

609
00:34:48.280 --> 00:34:51.920
up on, which would then become his fourth felony arrest.

610
00:34:52.320 --> 00:34:54.599
So to say this guy is an absolute total fuck

611
00:34:54.679 --> 00:34:57.760
up is an understatement. But he was about to level

612
00:34:57.840 --> 00:35:01.639
up his offenses because Trooper Stephen Vincent would pass away

613
00:35:02.400 --> 00:35:05.400
the day after he was brutally attacked and shot on

614
00:35:05.480 --> 00:35:08.519
the side of the road. So Kevin Dagel was now

615
00:35:08.519 --> 00:35:12.079
booked on charges of first degree murder and aggravated battery

616
00:35:12.400 --> 00:35:16.800
of a police officer, and Catherine's life was shattered in

617
00:35:16.880 --> 00:35:21.039
the blink of an eye. In just moments, she went

618
00:35:21.679 --> 00:35:26.679
from happily married to a widow, and she was now

619
00:35:26.760 --> 00:35:30.280
just in seconds, a single mom to a six year

620
00:35:30.280 --> 00:35:33.320
old boy who she had to look in the eyes

621
00:35:33.880 --> 00:35:38.199
and break the news that his daddy, his buddy and

622
00:35:38.280 --> 00:35:44.400
his best friend would never be coming back home. And

623
00:35:44.480 --> 00:35:48.400
how do you do this? You know? I remember having

624
00:35:48.400 --> 00:35:51.239
to break this news to my daughter when her grandmother

625
00:35:51.320 --> 00:35:55.519
died unexpectedly. They were so very close, so close, they

626
00:35:55.519 --> 00:35:59.239
spent every day together, and she was little, and I

627
00:35:59.320 --> 00:36:02.960
had to look in her eyes and break that news.

628
00:36:03.199 --> 00:36:06.679
So what Catherine had to look at in those little

629
00:36:06.679 --> 00:36:11.280
eyes while she broke this news about his daddy. I

630
00:36:11.320 --> 00:36:13.400
know I was dreading it. I didn't want to do it.

631
00:36:13.400 --> 00:36:17.000
It made me physically ill because I can't fix it.

632
00:36:18.559 --> 00:36:23.280
I can lighten the blow, but there's just no fitting

633
00:36:23.400 --> 00:36:27.880
explanation for that tender young age, and breaking that news

634
00:36:27.880 --> 00:36:32.159
to him had to be soaked in heartbreak and silence,

635
00:36:32.199 --> 00:36:35.400
where words are just not enough to carry the weight

636
00:36:35.960 --> 00:36:39.760
of the life long change that is about to come.

637
00:36:41.800 --> 00:36:44.880
And when little innocent eyes look up at you, you

638
00:36:44.960 --> 00:36:48.280
brace yourself, trying to find the right words that just

639
00:36:48.320 --> 00:36:52.880
won't shatter them all at once. And I envision Catherine

640
00:36:52.920 --> 00:36:55.559
getting down on her knees and through a trembling voice,

641
00:36:55.599 --> 00:36:59.480
explaining to young Ethan how brave his daddy was, and

642
00:36:59.519 --> 00:37:03.679
that is dad helped people. But something bad happened while

643
00:37:03.719 --> 00:37:07.199
he was doing just that, And she probably didn't even

644
00:37:07.199 --> 00:37:11.360
say the world the word killed, more like something along

645
00:37:11.400 --> 00:37:13.559
the lines of, you know, he won't be coming back,

646
00:37:13.639 --> 00:37:17.679
because somehow that just feels softer than the reality of

647
00:37:17.679 --> 00:37:21.760
what she knew to be true. You know, he was murdered,

648
00:37:23.400 --> 00:37:25.840
So how do you softly tell a child that their

649
00:37:25.880 --> 00:37:29.599
hero is gone? And then the questions that had to come,

650
00:37:29.639 --> 00:37:31.719
and I know she had to dread them. How did

651
00:37:31.760 --> 00:37:35.920
Daddy die? Did it hurt? Why did someone kill Daddy?

652
00:37:38.039 --> 00:37:40.639
And to soften what I know it had to have

653
00:37:40.679 --> 00:37:44.320
been an immense amount of anger and hatred toward the

654
00:37:44.400 --> 00:37:48.599
man that did this to her, to them, I bet

655
00:37:49.039 --> 00:37:53.079
she instead spared her baby boy that grief, and she

656
00:37:53.159 --> 00:37:56.559
simply said, sometimes people make bad choices that end up

657
00:37:56.599 --> 00:38:00.800
hurting others, honey, And while Daddy is gone, his love

658
00:38:00.880 --> 00:38:06.719
will never leave you. But I'm also willing to bet

659
00:38:07.760 --> 00:38:11.719
I've never met Catherine, but my heart goes out to

660
00:38:11.760 --> 00:38:14.960
her all these years later that this happened. But I'm

661
00:38:14.960 --> 00:38:18.400
willing to bet at night, when it got quiet and

662
00:38:18.440 --> 00:38:22.039
Ethan fell asleep and the phone wasn't ringing and she

663
00:38:22.239 --> 00:38:26.519
was alone in her bed, I guarantee you she cried

664
00:38:26.559 --> 00:38:31.159
into a pillow and tried to quiet her screams, my

665
00:38:31.320 --> 00:38:34.239
heart does not I just don't have the capacity to

666
00:38:34.320 --> 00:38:38.159
gloss over that reality. And she lived it. You know,

667
00:38:38.280 --> 00:38:42.480
I'm just telling her story, but it's hers and what

668
00:38:42.960 --> 00:38:51.400
what anguish she went through. So as their lives fell apart,

669
00:38:51.960 --> 00:38:54.800
police were trying to understand how this had occurred. So

670
00:38:54.840 --> 00:38:57.400
they went back to why was Stephen on the side

671
00:38:57.400 --> 00:39:00.880
of the road in the first place with Kevin Dagle?

672
00:39:01.199 --> 00:39:04.199
What brought the two of them together? And radio traffic

673
00:39:04.360 --> 00:39:07.480
records would show that Stephen was responding to the report

674
00:39:07.480 --> 00:39:10.320
of a drunken driver when he came upon Kevin Dagle's

675
00:39:10.320 --> 00:39:12.480
truck on the side of the road stuck in the ditch,

676
00:39:13.159 --> 00:39:15.320
and he decided to check on the driver of that

677
00:39:15.440 --> 00:39:18.159
vehicle and make sure that they were okay. So he

678
00:39:18.280 --> 00:39:20.400
radioed in that he was pulling over with a motorist

679
00:39:20.480 --> 00:39:23.920
assistance for a vehicle in a ditch, and the next

680
00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:28.199
radio traffic heard from him was Robert Leedoux requesting help

681
00:39:28.400 --> 00:39:31.320
for an officer that was down. That's pretty much how

682
00:39:31.360 --> 00:39:36.519
it went. So detectives then pulled dash cam from his unit,

683
00:39:37.559 --> 00:39:41.760
and remember this is their friend, but they had to

684
00:39:41.800 --> 00:39:46.239
watch that dash cam too, and they watched in horror

685
00:39:46.840 --> 00:39:51.559
as their friend was murdered in cold blood on film.

686
00:39:52.039 --> 00:39:55.760
It wasn't on the shoulder where you would typically pull over.

687
00:39:55.920 --> 00:39:59.800
It was more angled, like away from the road down

688
00:40:00.039 --> 00:40:01.719
into the ditch, and there was kind of like a

689
00:40:01.800 --> 00:40:04.920
rut where the tires had stopped. So this wasn't like

690
00:40:04.960 --> 00:40:07.159
he pulled over. It was really kind of like he wrecked.

691
00:40:07.760 --> 00:40:09.559
And he asked him, you know what's going on? Man?

692
00:40:10.199 --> 00:40:13.519
Do you need help? And what Trooper Vincent didn't know

693
00:40:14.360 --> 00:40:18.119
was that as he approached the truck talking to the man,

694
00:40:19.320 --> 00:40:22.400
Kevin Dagel had a sawed off shotgun in the vehicle

695
00:40:22.639 --> 00:40:26.679
that he had slowly and calmly slid over into his lap,

696
00:40:27.159 --> 00:40:30.679
not making much movement in the cab, and Trooper Vincent's

697
00:40:30.760 --> 00:40:33.519
last words were, we'll call the tow truck, get the

698
00:40:33.519 --> 00:40:35.119
truck out, and maybe I'll just go ahead and give

699
00:40:35.119 --> 00:40:37.840
you a ride where you need to be. But as

700
00:40:39.239 --> 00:40:45.199
Stephen squared to the window to finish talking to Kevin Dagele,

701
00:40:46.000 --> 00:40:48.639
that's when the sawed off shotgun came up and was

702
00:40:48.719 --> 00:40:52.079
shoved into his face, and with no time to react,

703
00:40:52.840 --> 00:40:55.480
all Stephen could do. I mean he didn't even have

704
00:40:55.480 --> 00:40:58.880
time to unholster his weapon. All he could do was

705
00:40:59.000 --> 00:41:03.679
look at the before Kevin pulled the trigger and mortally

706
00:41:03.719 --> 00:41:08.559
shot him directly in the face with a sawed off shotgun.

707
00:41:09.800 --> 00:41:13.559
And as Stephen stumbled backwards to his vehicle, Kevin got

708
00:41:13.599 --> 00:41:19.800
out and callously followed the bleeding and rapidly dying Stephen

709
00:41:20.559 --> 00:41:23.599
until he just collapsed in front of his cop car.

710
00:41:24.599 --> 00:41:29.119
And after he collapsed on the ground, Kevin Dagele walked up,

711
00:41:29.360 --> 00:41:31.960
leaned over him, and he said, oh, you're still alive.

712
00:41:33.599 --> 00:41:39.719
Just looking at him with just just evil in his

713
00:41:40.239 --> 00:41:43.719
body language and in his face, he said, oh, you're

714
00:41:43.760 --> 00:41:46.760
still alive. And when he realized that Stephen wasn't dead,

715
00:41:46.800 --> 00:41:49.199
he then sneered at him, You lucky bastard, You're still

716
00:41:49.280 --> 00:41:55.079
gonna die. And before kneeling down to search his pockets

717
00:41:55.119 --> 00:41:58.599
and try to steal his gun, he just sneered at

718
00:41:58.679 --> 00:42:01.800
him and then dropped down started ripping everything out of

719
00:42:01.800 --> 00:42:04.119
his pockets and trying to grab that gun. And that's

720
00:42:04.159 --> 00:42:06.480
when all hell broke loose because Robert Ludou and the

721
00:42:06.480 --> 00:42:10.480
boys pulled up and tackled him to the ground. So

722
00:42:10.599 --> 00:42:14.079
other than just being a total and complete piece of shit?

723
00:42:15.719 --> 00:42:20.119
What made Kevin react so violently towards a trooper simply

724
00:42:20.159 --> 00:42:23.639
trying to help him get out of a ditch. Clearly,

725
00:42:24.480 --> 00:42:26.639
in that moment that this took place, he was of

726
00:42:26.679 --> 00:42:30.639
no threat to him. He wasn't under arrest, he was calm.

727
00:42:30.719 --> 00:42:33.079
Stephen was calm. He was trying to help him out.

728
00:42:33.360 --> 00:42:37.199
Was gonna get him a tow truck? Well, what I

729
00:42:37.239 --> 00:42:41.840
can tell you is that Kevin was drunk. Now, Steven

730
00:42:41.920 --> 00:42:45.679
had not even addressed this issue with him. Maybe though

731
00:42:45.960 --> 00:42:48.039
that's why Kevin was in the ditch to begin with.

732
00:42:48.360 --> 00:42:52.679
But to kill somebody over it, really, that's where we're

733
00:42:52.679 --> 00:42:56.000
gonna go with this. It just seemed a bit much.

734
00:42:56.119 --> 00:42:59.039
Considering Kevin had already spent a majority of his adult

735
00:42:59.119 --> 00:43:03.679
life behind ball, this was not unusual for him to

736
00:43:03.960 --> 00:43:10.639
kill someone because you think you're gonna get a DWI. Well,

737
00:43:11.239 --> 00:43:15.360
when the murder took place, shortly after everything was you know,

738
00:43:15.480 --> 00:43:18.519
the Stephen was already taken off and Kevin was already

739
00:43:18.599 --> 00:43:22.760
arrested and put in the vehicle. The vehicle that was

740
00:43:22.760 --> 00:43:25.360
in the ditch was being removed, so as they were

741
00:43:25.400 --> 00:43:28.440
pulling that out, police ran the license plate to check

742
00:43:28.440 --> 00:43:31.280
and see if the truck was stolen, and wouldn't you know,

743
00:43:31.480 --> 00:43:35.880
it wasn't stolen, but it was not Kevin's truck. It

744
00:43:35.880 --> 00:43:39.000
belonged to a man named Blake Brewer. Blake was a

745
00:43:39.039 --> 00:43:41.760
fifty four year old and a local as well to

746
00:43:41.800 --> 00:43:45.519
the area. But the truck wasn't reported stolen, so they

747
00:43:45.559 --> 00:43:49.239
would need to track down Blake and see why Dagel

748
00:43:49.280 --> 00:43:52.440
had his truck to begin with. And Blake was a kind,

749
00:43:53.000 --> 00:43:57.519
generous and friendly guy, the type of person who never

750
00:43:57.599 --> 00:44:00.679
met a stranger. He was someone who believed and strong

751
00:44:00.840 --> 00:44:04.360
work ethic, and he was known by the place that

752
00:44:04.400 --> 00:44:06.119
he worked. He was known to be the first at

753
00:44:06.159 --> 00:44:08.679
work to be the last to leave. And I think

754
00:44:08.719 --> 00:44:12.039
that tells you just how much he poured into his work.

755
00:44:13.079 --> 00:44:15.400
And he strikes you as the type of guy that

756
00:44:15.719 --> 00:44:19.360
also has lived a tough life, but an honest one.

757
00:44:19.400 --> 00:44:22.880
He just did not have an easy life. He had

758
00:44:22.920 --> 00:44:26.440
these huge, bright blue eyes, curly brown hair that he

759
00:44:26.519 --> 00:44:29.480
kept short, and he just had this gentleness about his

760
00:44:29.519 --> 00:44:35.559
face and his being. Now, when Blake wasn't on the job,

761
00:44:35.880 --> 00:44:38.920
he spent all of his time with his black lab

762
00:44:39.039 --> 00:44:42.320
that was his pal. That dog was his bud. Blake

763
00:44:42.360 --> 00:44:45.440
didn't have many friends. He also did not have family

764
00:44:45.480 --> 00:44:48.400
that kept touch with in touch with him, so his

765
00:44:48.480 --> 00:44:52.320
pup was really acting as his saving grace whenever it

766
00:44:52.400 --> 00:44:55.199
was just him and he was feeling lonely. He never

767
00:44:55.320 --> 00:44:57.760
was a rich man by any stretch of the imagination,

768
00:44:58.920 --> 00:45:03.719
and in all transparency, he could probably be more thought

769
00:45:03.760 --> 00:45:07.760
of as a tumbleweed, maybe a drifter at times, no

770
00:45:07.880 --> 00:45:11.840
real roots planted, but he built family at his workplace,

771
00:45:12.760 --> 00:45:14.960
and one of his favorite things to do was to

772
00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:17.440
take himself and his dog down to Big Lake and

773
00:45:17.519 --> 00:45:21.199
fish as his relaxation and his peace. It was a

774
00:45:21.320 --> 00:45:24.519
very simple life, but one that Blake did his best

775
00:45:24.559 --> 00:45:27.920
to live. So when police tried to contact Blake, he

776
00:45:28.000 --> 00:45:30.679
was really hard to get a hold of, and kind

777
00:45:30.679 --> 00:45:32.559
of from what I've laid out here, you could probably

778
00:45:32.559 --> 00:45:36.760
see why he could have loaned his truck to Kevin.

779
00:45:37.159 --> 00:45:39.559
So after they kept trying to get in touch with

780
00:45:39.639 --> 00:45:41.039
him and he didn't call back, I don't know if

781
00:45:41.039 --> 00:45:42.840
he had a cell phone or not, the police just

782
00:45:42.920 --> 00:45:46.480
kind of waited for the return call from Blake. But

783
00:45:47.079 --> 00:45:50.800
in reality, if you're just looking at things practical, just

784
00:45:50.840 --> 00:45:53.719
because Kevin killed a cop didn't necessarily mean that he

785
00:45:53.760 --> 00:45:56.639
had stolen the truck either, and so they couldn't just

786
00:45:56.679 --> 00:46:00.440
go balls to the wall tearing down the world trying

787
00:46:00.440 --> 00:46:05.880
to find Blake. But considering how prompt Blake was and

788
00:46:05.920 --> 00:46:08.960
how dedicated he was to his job, his boss became

789
00:46:09.039 --> 00:46:11.800
really concerned when he never showed up to work on Monday,

790
00:46:11.840 --> 00:46:16.079
the day after Trooper Vincent was shot. He really liked

791
00:46:16.119 --> 00:46:19.000
Blake and he knew that this was out of the

792
00:46:19.039 --> 00:46:22.920
norm for his employee. So deputies had a hard time

793
00:46:22.960 --> 00:46:26.159
getting behold of him before. And now this was compounded

794
00:46:26.199 --> 00:46:29.320
by his lack of family, his lack of friends, and

795
00:46:29.360 --> 00:46:31.800
that no one really kept up with him, which is

796
00:46:31.840 --> 00:46:35.280
really kind of sad when you think about it. The

797
00:46:35.400 --> 00:46:37.920
relatives that police were able to get in touch with

798
00:46:37.960 --> 00:46:40.719
they hadn't spoken to him in literally years, so that

799
00:46:40.880 --> 00:46:42.440
was of no help of trying to get in touch

800
00:46:42.440 --> 00:46:47.239
with Blake. But whenever he was reported as not showing

801
00:46:47.320 --> 00:46:49.880
up to work, they put two and two together and

802
00:46:49.920 --> 00:46:52.519
so deputies were eventually able to locate his home on

803
00:46:52.559 --> 00:46:55.480
Hollyvale Road, which is in Moss Bluff, and they knocked

804
00:46:55.519 --> 00:46:57.920
on the door, knock knock, but there was no answer.

805
00:46:58.400 --> 00:47:01.960
When they continued to knock. Now, they're really concerned about

806
00:47:02.000 --> 00:47:05.239
him and possibly concerned for his safety, considering his vehicle

807
00:47:05.360 --> 00:47:07.239
just been used in a murder of a police officer

808
00:47:07.280 --> 00:47:09.960
the day before, and so they made the decision to

809
00:47:10.079 --> 00:47:13.559
force entry into the home. So they busted through the

810
00:47:13.599 --> 00:47:17.880
door and they started to call out to him, mister Brewer, police,

811
00:47:17.920 --> 00:47:21.239
are you in here, mister Brewer, We're the police. Hello,

812
00:47:22.239 --> 00:47:28.000
But there was just silence. It was very quiet and still.

813
00:47:28.119 --> 00:47:30.920
So they went through the home carefully clearing it, you know,

814
00:47:30.960 --> 00:47:33.079
making sure that he wasn't hiding or something like that,

815
00:47:34.079 --> 00:47:38.599
and that's whenever they came upon a very terrible, unexpected

816
00:47:38.639 --> 00:47:43.079
and shocking scene. They found Blake Brewer, but he was

817
00:47:43.199 --> 00:47:46.960
dead in his home from an apparent gunshot blast to

818
00:47:47.039 --> 00:47:50.480
the torso, and he was well beyond saving. He had

819
00:47:50.480 --> 00:47:53.119
been dead for at least a day, and looking around

820
00:47:53.159 --> 00:47:58.519
the home, blood wasn't just in the one area where

821
00:47:58.559 --> 00:48:02.880
Blake lay, It was all throughout the house. And so

822
00:48:03.440 --> 00:48:05.920
they are starting to process the scene and figure out

823
00:48:05.920 --> 00:48:09.000
what happened. It became very clear, very quickly that this

824
00:48:09.199 --> 00:48:12.960
wasn't a suicide because there was no weapon. If you

825
00:48:12.960 --> 00:48:16.079
shoot yourself in the chest and you fall and you die,

826
00:48:16.119 --> 00:48:19.079
you're not going to have time to get rid of

827
00:48:19.119 --> 00:48:23.199
the weapon. Dead people don't hide weapons either. So as

828
00:48:23.239 --> 00:48:26.119
this crime scene was being analyzed, detectives at one point

829
00:48:26.159 --> 00:48:29.000
opened the washing machine and there they found a bunch

830
00:48:29.039 --> 00:48:31.559
of bloody clothes and it looked as if someone had

831
00:48:31.559 --> 00:48:34.280
tried to clean up the scene, a miserable attempt at it,

832
00:48:34.880 --> 00:48:39.199
but an attempt no less, this was a murder, and

833
00:48:39.360 --> 00:48:42.920
police now had a really good idea who might have

834
00:48:43.000 --> 00:48:46.920
done it because they came to find that Kevin Dagele

835
00:48:47.079 --> 00:48:50.280
and Blake Brewer were roommates from time to time, so

836
00:48:50.360 --> 00:48:53.639
they did have a relationship. They knew one another, and

837
00:48:53.719 --> 00:48:57.400
this was not a random connection of any type. They

838
00:48:57.440 --> 00:49:00.960
also came to realize that the wounds Blake's suffered to

839
00:49:01.039 --> 00:49:04.960
his torso were the exact same caliber and weapon as

840
00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.440
the ones sustained by Trump Trooper Vincent. And this makes

841
00:49:09.480 --> 00:49:12.280
me really, really sad in this part of the story too,

842
00:49:12.320 --> 00:49:15.679
to tell you this, but what does it feel like

843
00:49:16.519 --> 00:49:19.320
to need to notify next of ken about a family

844
00:49:19.360 --> 00:49:24.360
member's death when he doesn't have contact with anyone, you know,

845
00:49:24.599 --> 00:49:29.679
my god, Like someone needs to know that he was murdered,

846
00:49:30.280 --> 00:49:34.440
But they had no one that they could go tell.

847
00:49:34.559 --> 00:49:38.079
Blake's boss was certainly shattered by the news, but no

848
00:49:38.320 --> 00:49:43.199
family to tell is just heartbreaking to me. But the

849
00:49:43.239 --> 00:49:46.920
police didn't just say oh well. They continued to do

850
00:49:47.000 --> 00:49:49.800
some certain research and they ended up finding a cousin

851
00:49:50.239 --> 00:49:53.719
named Joy Kellogg, and they drove to her home to

852
00:49:53.760 --> 00:49:57.119
break the news about what had happened to Blake. Now,

853
00:49:57.159 --> 00:49:59.199
she hadn't spoken to Blake since they were kids, but

854
00:49:59.320 --> 00:50:03.719
nonetheless it was an absolute shocking revelation to find out

855
00:50:04.119 --> 00:50:06.440
as she thought back about how kind of a kid

856
00:50:06.480 --> 00:50:09.199
he was when they were little. You know, they played

857
00:50:09.199 --> 00:50:11.400
together as kids, when they were cousins, when they were

858
00:50:11.440 --> 00:50:15.599
little as cousins. So not being people of great means,

859
00:50:16.639 --> 00:50:20.159
Blake was still to be honored. And so to make

860
00:50:20.199 --> 00:50:24.519
this happen, his cousins and his boss would scrape together

861
00:50:24.599 --> 00:50:27.960
the funds that they could to give him an honorable memorial.

862
00:50:28.079 --> 00:50:31.480
Even strangers from the community came together and donated to

863
00:50:31.599 --> 00:50:36.199
this cause. So good did shine through in a horrible situation.

864
00:50:36.840 --> 00:50:38.840
And I am happy to say that Blake Brewer was

865
00:50:39.039 --> 00:50:43.639
not only honored, but he was given a respectable burial.

866
00:50:44.000 --> 00:50:46.000
Whenever he was laid to rest and he was not

867
00:50:46.119 --> 00:50:48.800
alone when confronted with the fact that police found the

868
00:50:48.800 --> 00:50:51.400
body of Blake and Kevin was the last person to

869
00:50:51.480 --> 00:50:55.559
be with him, to have taken his truck, and he

870
00:50:55.719 --> 00:50:58.840
was dead by a gunshot blast that was the same caliber,

871
00:50:58.920 --> 00:51:02.719
and all of that that Trooper Dagel was shot, wait

872
00:51:02.760 --> 00:51:10.440
Trooper Dagel boom that the trooper was shot. Kevin now

873
00:51:10.519 --> 00:51:14.000
claimed that he did kill Blake Brewer, but it was

874
00:51:14.039 --> 00:51:17.920
in total self defense because he said that Brewer came

875
00:51:17.960 --> 00:51:23.119
at him with a knife, and that seemed unlikely. And

876
00:51:23.239 --> 00:51:25.519
a detective her names Beth McGee, she brought up the

877
00:51:25.559 --> 00:51:29.119
fact that, so, you were attacked by Blake Brewer with

878
00:51:29.199 --> 00:51:32.599
a knife, but you have zero defensive wounds on you.

879
00:51:32.599 --> 00:51:36.559
You have no, no, nothing from a knife that would

880
00:51:36.559 --> 00:51:39.840
even suggest that you have been attacked by a knife.

881
00:51:39.880 --> 00:51:42.840
And I'd also like to add that whenever Kevin was

882
00:51:42.880 --> 00:51:45.840
tackled and subdued by the Good Samaritans at the trooper

883
00:51:45.920 --> 00:51:49.360
shooting scene, one of them had the presence of mind

884
00:51:49.400 --> 00:51:52.559
to search his pockets so that he wouldn't have a

885
00:51:52.599 --> 00:51:54.480
weapon on him, and he did find a knife in

886
00:51:55.719 --> 00:51:58.239
Dagele's pocket, which he took and he threw it into

887
00:51:58.280 --> 00:52:00.119
the ditch so that he couldn't get a hold of it.

888
00:52:00.280 --> 00:52:02.920
So it looks like he's the one to be known

889
00:52:02.960 --> 00:52:06.400
to have a knife on him, not Blake Brewer. So

890
00:52:06.840 --> 00:52:09.199
as Kevin was removed from the scene the day he

891
00:52:09.320 --> 00:52:13.000
murdered Trooper Vincent, he also was yelling out that he

892
00:52:13.039 --> 00:52:16.039
didn't kill a cop, he didn't shoot anyone, all of

893
00:52:16.079 --> 00:52:20.280
this while he literally had Trooper Vincent's blood on his

894
00:52:20.320 --> 00:52:22.599
own hands, He literally had his blood on him and

895
00:52:22.800 --> 00:52:26.760
I didn't shoot him. I didn't shoot him. Deny, deny, deny.

896
00:52:27.000 --> 00:52:30.159
That's all he could do. So Kevin Daegel was charged

897
00:52:30.199 --> 00:52:32.960
with second degree murder in the death of Blake Brewer

898
00:52:33.280 --> 00:52:36.960
and faced charges of theft of a motor vehicle and

899
00:52:37.119 --> 00:52:39.960
possession of a firearm by a convicted felon because remember,

900
00:52:40.119 --> 00:52:44.280
he's been breaking the law for a long time. And this,

901
00:52:44.760 --> 00:52:48.000
to me is where parole boards need to listen up

902
00:52:48.119 --> 00:52:52.079
to we the people, the constituents of the very communities

903
00:52:52.199 --> 00:52:55.679
that these people are released back into, because when someone

904
00:52:55.760 --> 00:53:00.400
shows you their propensity for lawlessness and violence, you need

905
00:53:00.440 --> 00:53:05.679
to believe them. Parole board, a sober person behind bars

906
00:53:05.800 --> 00:53:09.960
claiming that they are safe and responsible, who has a

907
00:53:10.159 --> 00:53:15.800
long twenty year history of being problematic and with multiple dwi's,

908
00:53:16.440 --> 00:53:19.000
convinced you that he was going to go the straight

909
00:53:19.079 --> 00:53:24.360
and narrow. Really did that really happen? He burned down

910
00:53:24.440 --> 00:53:29.199
his own mother's house. What the hell do you think

911
00:53:29.199 --> 00:53:31.000
he's going to do to people he doesn't care about.

912
00:53:31.360 --> 00:53:33.920
He's willing to burn down his mother's own home. And

913
00:53:33.960 --> 00:53:38.360
that's exactly what he did. He did exactly what he

914
00:53:38.400 --> 00:53:41.039
said he wasn't going to go do, and he murdered

915
00:53:41.039 --> 00:53:44.880
people when they got in his way. And he can

916
00:53:44.960 --> 00:53:48.159
spare me the whole Oh, I had a bad childhood spill.

917
00:53:48.480 --> 00:53:53.400
I don't give a shit, mister Dagel. We all do,

918
00:53:54.159 --> 00:53:57.920
and we don't go around hurting people in the process.

919
00:53:59.719 --> 00:54:03.159
His own family was afraid of him too, referring to

920
00:54:03.239 --> 00:54:07.280
him and I quote as doctor Jekyl and hide when

921
00:54:07.280 --> 00:54:11.440
he drank. Well, here's an idea, don't fucking drink Kevin.

922
00:54:12.159 --> 00:54:16.400
But Kevin does what Kevin wants. How much evidence do

923
00:54:16.440 --> 00:54:18.559
you need? If it walks like a duck and it

924
00:54:18.639 --> 00:54:21.599
quacks like a duck, it's probably a frickin duck. I

925
00:54:21.679 --> 00:54:25.199
cannot believe that the Parole Board let this guy out

926
00:54:26.119 --> 00:54:31.639
genuinely cannot believe it. Kevin Dagele got drunk, he argued

927
00:54:31.679 --> 00:54:34.239
with his roommate, Blake Brewer, and then he shot him

928
00:54:34.239 --> 00:54:37.840
in cold blood in the chest with a sowd off shotgun,

929
00:54:38.000 --> 00:54:42.199
leaving him to suffer and die alone and basically to rot,

930
00:54:42.320 --> 00:54:45.199
assuming that no one was gonna come look for him.

931
00:54:45.400 --> 00:54:48.039
He knew he was a loner, but he was wrong

932
00:54:48.239 --> 00:54:51.119
because people did care about Blake, and they jumped as

933
00:54:51.159 --> 00:54:52.920
soon as they realized there was a problem and he

934
00:54:52.960 --> 00:54:57.199
was a no show. After killing him, Kevin stole his truck,

935
00:54:57.480 --> 00:54:59.679
which he was too drunk to drive, and he drove

936
00:54:59.719 --> 00:55:02.199
into a a ditch where he got stuck, which, by

937
00:55:02.239 --> 00:55:04.920
the way, I found he was four times the legal limit.

938
00:55:06.760 --> 00:55:10.159
A good and kind state trooper who took an oath

939
00:55:10.239 --> 00:55:14.840
to protect and serve stopped to fulfill that very oath

940
00:55:15.119 --> 00:55:19.639
and unknowingly walked up to a murderer, offered him a

941
00:55:19.639 --> 00:55:22.679
tow truck and a ride. Yet he was repaid with

942
00:55:22.760 --> 00:55:26.039
a gunshot blast to the face with the very same

943
00:55:26.119 --> 00:55:29.480
murder weapon used earlier in the day to murder someone else.

944
00:55:31.199 --> 00:55:35.360
So why he killed Master Trooper Vincent is now very obvious.

945
00:55:35.760 --> 00:55:39.320
Kevin thought that Trooper Vincent was onto him for the

946
00:55:39.400 --> 00:55:43.119
first murder that he had just committed prior. But he wasn't.

947
00:55:43.639 --> 00:55:48.119
He was simply genuinely trying to help him, and that's

948
00:55:48.159 --> 00:55:52.280
why he reacted so brutally to save himself from going

949
00:55:52.320 --> 00:55:57.679
back to prison. It's that horrifically simple. He ambushed Blake

950
00:55:58.320 --> 00:56:03.559
and then he ambushed Steve. Then, to add insult to

951
00:56:03.679 --> 00:56:07.480
mortal injury, he mocked his victim as he lay dying.

952
00:56:08.440 --> 00:56:14.199
If face has a boom fifty nine thirteen, If evil

953
00:56:14.440 --> 00:56:17.840
has a face. Those good Samaritans were right when they

954
00:56:18.159 --> 00:56:21.480
all said that they saw it in his eyes. Now,

955
00:56:21.599 --> 00:56:27.320
Kevin would initially deny having done anything, but later when

956
00:56:27.360 --> 00:56:30.800
it came down to the nutcutting, he would say he

957
00:56:31.000 --> 00:56:35.480
just didn't remember any of it. Amnesia, y'all. What a

958
00:56:35.599 --> 00:56:40.440
beautiful excuse for those unwilling to face nor take responsibility

959
00:56:40.679 --> 00:56:44.960
for their actions. But Kevin Dagele was charged with the

960
00:56:45.000 --> 00:56:48.599
first degree murder of Master Trooper Stephen Vincent, and he

961
00:56:48.639 --> 00:56:51.519
would choose to go to trial. He was also, like

962
00:56:51.559 --> 00:56:54.440
I said, charged with the second degree murder of Blake Brewer,

963
00:56:55.239 --> 00:56:59.840
and Kevin would cry. Kevin Dagele would cry as he

964
00:57:00.000 --> 00:57:03.039
explained in court that his dad had committed suicide when

965
00:57:03.039 --> 00:57:07.360
he was a child and that hurt him. Well. I

966
00:57:07.440 --> 00:57:10.599
wonder how young Ethan felt in that moment, because you

967
00:57:10.639 --> 00:57:15.519
know what your dad chose to die, Kevin Ethan's didn't

968
00:57:17.639 --> 00:57:25.280
you stole him from his son? Kevin Dagel also professed

969
00:57:25.280 --> 00:57:28.000
his desperation on the day of the murderers. He said

970
00:57:28.000 --> 00:57:29.960
he had given up on life because he lost his

971
00:57:30.920 --> 00:57:34.920
oil filled job due to a hip injury, and that

972
00:57:35.039 --> 00:57:39.400
he was so drunk after smoking meth from a broken

973
00:57:39.840 --> 00:57:46.159
light bulb. He was just jobless, homeless and hopeless. It's

974
00:57:46.199 --> 00:57:49.559
really funny to me, though, that the jobless and the

975
00:57:49.639 --> 00:57:53.760
homeless still managed to have enough resources to buy meth.

976
00:57:55.400 --> 00:57:58.760
You still have enough time to smoke it. You can

977
00:57:59.000 --> 00:58:03.320
get alcohol, you can find bullets, and you can tote

978
00:58:03.360 --> 00:58:08.480
around a sawed off shotgun. Unpopular opinion here, possibly, But

979
00:58:08.559 --> 00:58:11.679
how about you, Kevin Dagele, just kill yourself rather than

980
00:58:11.679 --> 00:58:17.320
two innocent people. It would have saved you and society

981
00:58:17.360 --> 00:58:19.360
a whole lot of trouble. I can promise you that.

982
00:58:20.360 --> 00:58:23.239
But that's not what selfish men do. They hurt everyone

983
00:58:23.280 --> 00:58:26.519
in their path to achieve what they want. And I'm

984
00:58:26.559 --> 00:58:30.800
not sure if his claims were supposed to explain away murder,

985
00:58:31.199 --> 00:58:35.280
But trauma mixed with self destruction isn't a coupon that

986
00:58:35.320 --> 00:58:38.960
you get to redeem for murder. Because you're not broken, Kevin,

987
00:58:39.159 --> 00:58:44.039
You're dangerous now. If excuses could resurrect the dead, that

988
00:58:44.079 --> 00:58:47.679
would be the only time to me that your pity

989
00:58:47.719 --> 00:58:52.840
story would matter. In twenty twenty two, Kevin Dagele was

990
00:58:52.880 --> 00:58:55.880
formally sentenced to death by Judge Clayton Davis, and he

991
00:58:56.000 --> 00:59:01.719
now sits on death row at Angola, awaiting his execute

992
00:59:01.880 --> 00:59:03.280
And I want to tell you I came upon a

993
00:59:03.320 --> 00:59:07.239
photo of Master Trooper Stephen Vincent's young son Ethan, looking

994
00:59:07.239 --> 00:59:10.800
into a mirror and he's wearing his father's trooper hat,

995
00:59:11.119 --> 00:59:14.000
and in the reflection of the mirror is his dad.

996
00:59:15.159 --> 00:59:17.519
They're looking the same direction and he's wearing that hat

997
00:59:17.519 --> 00:59:21.880
as well. It was just beautiful and it just tugged

998
00:59:22.199 --> 00:59:24.760
at your heartstrings when you're looking at it. But if

999
00:59:24.760 --> 00:59:28.920
there's anything that I know, it's that Ethan may grow

1000
00:59:29.000 --> 00:59:32.000
up without his dad by his side, but his daddy

1001
00:59:32.199 --> 00:59:37.840
will absolutely remain in his heart forever. The goodness and

1002
00:59:37.920 --> 00:59:42.400
the bravery and the best parts of Master Trooper Stephen

1003
00:59:42.480 --> 00:59:46.559
Vincent will be reflected not only in the mirror, but

1004
00:59:46.679 --> 00:59:50.079
also in the life that his precious son Ethan will lead.

1005
00:59:51.800 --> 00:59:58.039
May he be surrounded by love and strength and happiness,

1006
00:59:58.440 --> 01:00:04.360
all of which his father was violently robbed off. And

1007
01:00:04.440 --> 01:00:08.199
to the coward who took Stephen Vincent from his family,

1008
01:00:08.440 --> 01:00:12.320
May every mirror you look in remind you of what

1009
01:00:12.360 --> 01:00:14.719
you are, so as you may or may not know.

1010
01:00:14.760 --> 01:00:17.719
There's been a shortage of execution drugs and so the

1011
01:00:17.719 --> 01:00:21.360
State of Louisiana moved onto nitrogen hypoxia as a method.

1012
01:00:21.360 --> 01:00:25.239
But either way, Kevin's execution date has yet to be set.

1013
01:00:25.559 --> 01:00:27.960
But maybe we should look into bring it back some

1014
01:00:28.000 --> 01:00:32.239
of those older methods, keV, you know. But until then,

1015
01:00:32.360 --> 01:00:35.159
sleep tight and I'd be down for the electric chair

1016
01:00:35.199 --> 01:00:47.760
to bite.