Trumpeter Shamarr Allen had a terrifying encounter with Louisiana State Troopers on Wednesday, July 23, 2014, and he sat down with us to tell his side of the story.
Shamarr Allen on the cover of OffBeat in 2010.
Allen, who has been named a Cultural Ambassador by the State Department, volunteers to teach music to children out of his mother’s house in his native Ninth Ward, and has a clean record, was nevertheless treated like a criminal after being stopped by several State Troopers.
In a video recorded at the OffBeat offices on July 29, Allen recounts how he feared for his life after being forcibly removed from his car, pinned to the ground with an officer’s boot on his head, and harassed.
After the officers ran Allen’s name through the computer and found out that his record is “squeaky clean,” as he puts it, he was released without being charged with a crime or even accused of any wrongdoing.
Watch the video below to hear Shamarr Allen’s first hand account of what happened that night.
