KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana |Alleged Police Abuse: The Tale of Bruises

Alleged Police Abuse: The Tale of Bruises

     There's been a lot of analysis of the DWI booking tape involving Angie Garbarino and Shreveport Police Officer Wiley Willis, in the alleged police abuse case.  But bruising patterns on Garbarino's face could reveal much more than the tape.
     If a picture says a thousand words, severe bruising on Angie Garbarino's face could tell an entire story.  Shreveport plastic surgeon Dr. McIntyre Bridges pointed to Garbarino's picture on the KSLA News web site before saying, "well, that basically she got, she got impacted all along this whole region (entire face).  I mean above and below."
     During the taped DWI booking, back in November at SPD headquarters, such a potential impact to bruise Garbarino's face can be heard as she collides with the wall, while Officer Wiley Willis wrestled for control of her.  On the tape, Garbarino is heard saying, "is this on the record?  Good."  Garbarino then yells, "no" as she's seen hitting the floor, before starting to weep.
     During our conversation with Dr. Bridges at his business "Bridges to Beauty," he held his outstreched hand in front of his face, completely flat and upright, mimicking a flat surface.  He then put the hand over his face saying, "anything that's gonna go like this, okay, can give you this pattern here."  That pattern, said Dr. Bridges, appears as raccoon-like bruising.
     Some have speculated Garbarino could have received such bruising from her car crash before the DWI booking.  But Dr. Bridges doesn't think so.  He pointed to the wound right above her eyebrows, caused by a complete facial impact.  "She got hit here (forehead).  And if she broke her nose, you know, that can cause bruising on both sides."
     Further, Dr. Bridges said Garbarino had no such forehead wound 'before' Officer Willis turned off the tape, after refusing a breathalizer test.  When medics arrived exactly 7-minutes and 15-seconds after Willis turned the tape back on, and we see the injured Garbarino lying on the floor in a pool of blood, they asked the obvious question:
MEDIC:  "What happened?
OFFICER WILLIS:  "She fell down."
ANGIE GARBARINO:  "No, 'she' didn't fall down!  He pushed me down against the wall.  Yeah he did!"
     Former Shreveport police officer, and now LSU-Shreveport Criminal Justice Instructor Rich Arnold told KSLA News 12 that he would not be surprised if Willis lost his job because of one fact:  In those 7-minutes and 15-seconds of Garbarino seen lying on the floor, Officer Willis never rendered first aid.  Arnold concluded that Officer Willis had an ethical obligation to do so, but did not.

Story by Jeff Ferrell