BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A Baton Rouge man accused of placing a noose at a black colleague’s work area has been charged under a new state law that makes it a crime to display a noose with the intent to intimidate.
Reggie Parent, who is white, was booked Monday — the first arrest in East Baton Rouge Parish under the new state. He had no comment Wednesday when contacted by The Associated Press.
Parent’s co-worker Reggie Drummer said he found the noose at his work station Monday, after he and Parent had been joking last week about the outcome of the LSU-Georgia football game. Drummer, a Georgia fan, said Parent told him if Georgia won the game, Parent would have a “big surprise” for him Monday. Georgia won Saturday’s game.
Drummer said Parent and some of his other co-workers laughed when confronted about the noose. Drummer said he only called authorities after his supervisor said the noose was not a big deal.
Drummer said he was upset by the symbolism. The noose is seen by many as a symbol of racial lynchings in the old South.
Parent and Drummer are employees of the engineering firm of Louis J. Capozzoli in Baton Rouge, a subsidiary of GeoEngineers. Kurt Fraese, the CEO of GeoEngineers, said in a statement the company is taking the situation very seriously.
“We are dedicated to a work environment that promotes diversity,” Fraese said.
Fraese declined to comment on specific actions the company has taken in response to the incident, citing an ongoing investigation.
During the summer, the Legislature unanimously passed state Rep. Rickey Hardy’s bill making it a crime to try to intimidate people by using a hangman’s noose. Gov. Bobby Jindal signed the bill into law in July. A conviction could bring fines up to $5,000 and up to a year in prison.
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