Signal 15- Assist Officer

I am Senior Corporal Cat Lafitte, or was until this happened:
Main Stream Media Version
Here's ATS's response:
ATS Thread
which was understandably scathing.

But here's the truth:
In less than 6 years I achieved Master Peace Officer certification, promoted to Senior Corporal, had made over 830 arrests. I had 23 Commendations and 3 Certificates of Merit. I had only received ONE complaint and it was Not Sustained. I had ZERO discipline in my entire career. And no, I had no history of mental illness.

February 2011: I was recovering from pneumonia, the flu and an injured knee. I was prescribed steroids for my illnesses and took them as prescribed by my doctor.

I was forced to work approximately 36 hours in 3 days with no sleep between Sat/Sun. On Sunday I approached multiple supervisors, begging them to let me go home. Obviously they declined. According to the Texas Workforce Commission DPD violated state labor laws but TWC doesn't have jurisdiction over city employees.

Sleep deprivation + steroids caused me to become severely manic.

I went to the Medical Center of Plano ER for help. They ignored me for 2 hours (did not know I was an officer, just assumed I was a drug addict because I was acting strangely- manic) I did begin yelling on my phone. I was sitting on a gurney in nothing but panties and a hospital gown with my back to the door when a male EMT came charging in. He was literally a foot taller, and 200 lbs heavier than me. He shoved past Matt and tackled me off the bed and choked me- resulting in debilitating and permanent PTSD. I scrambled to get away from him. "Throwing my boot at him Jerry Springer style" meant I was using my friend as a human shield and throwing my clothing at this crazed hospital employee in an effort to keep him from choking me again. DPD was called to the scene and escorted me home.

Knowing that I was not acting normally and knowing that I had received no treatment at the ER, DPD dropped me off, took my guns, put me on administrative leave. And left me alone for 7 DAYS.

That evening, the next day, the next day I called my Lt. directly begging for help. On Thursday (the day after the incident in the ER) he gave me a 1-800 number to call. I was too manic to be able to deal with the automated menu. I was too manic to drive. I was terrified to go to an ER.

At the time this was in place in department rules:
432.04 Critical Incident Stress Program
A. The purpose of this program is to provide support for employees involved in critical incidents.
B. A critical incident is defined as any occurrence having the potential to interfere with an individual's ability to function.
Critical Incidents occur when employees are involved in situations such as:
4. Incidents which supervisors believe require psychological support.
C. The Watch Commander will be responsible for notifying Psychological Services within 24 hours of the incident.
Psychological Services will coordinate initial contact procedures through the Peer Support Coordinator.
D. Peer Support personnel may be utilized to make initial contact, provide support and offer information regarding the formal debriefing for involved employees.
E. A Psychological Services Staff member will conduct the formal debriefing, which is designed to minimize or alleviate stress related symptoms and prevent the development of more serious post trauma syndromes.

None of the above happened. They dropped me off at Green Oaks (mental hospital) 7 DAYS after the initial incident, this hospitalization was never documented by the department. I was never contacted by 'Psychological Services'. No one from DPD followed up on my condition.

An interesting side note: In the year that followed this incident all the supervisors involved were quietly transferred to other positions and new mental illness protocol was introduced into General Orders. The ironic part is that the rules in place at the time would have been sufficient- if they had been followed!

On day 6 of being left alone (severely manic and experiencing severe PTSD) I got on Facebook and had a 10 page discussion with 2 friends, telling them about how I went to the ER and was attacked.

The meme of the little African American boy had been sitting on my Facebook for months. It said "Damn 5-0" underneath it, therefore making fun of racist police. The meme was posted by a friend, who is white, but has several adopted black siblings. He is not racist. I responded with a Dave Chappelle quote- which was also famous for making fun of racist police. When the news article came out, they conveniently omitted the words that were included in the meme and the fact that what I typed in response was a verbatim quote, not my own words. As for 'Official Bum Roller', just another stupid joke. I had been assigned to the downtown Paddy Wagon for over a year. I was the one scooping up the drunks and the crackheads so they didn't bother the 'beautiful people'. I try to always treat everyone with dignity and respect, and please understand that none of my jokes were meant to be malicious.

Up until my termination I put in writing everything that happened, which included all the rules and laws that had been violated by DPD supervisors. Nothing was investigated and no one was punished but me. DPD has it set up so that if you file a grievance it goes directly to the supervisor you are complaining about.

After my termination I began trying to contact the City Manager's Office. The Assistant City Manager refused to return my phone calls for months. By the time I found out about the Ethics committee and filed my complaints, the statute of limitations was up.

5 months after the initial incident I was charged with assault based on the complete lie told by the EMT. But 2 years later- almost to the day that the statute of limitations would be up- it was dropped. I filed a complaint against the hospital with the Texas Department of Health and it was substantiated. Of course I never received an apology or an opportunity to pursue charges against the EMT.

So, here I am, 4 years later. I am on disability through the Pension system because several doctors and a majority vote determined that I'm disabled and it's DPD's fault. There's no way I can work full time, but I would love to try to work part time. The problem? One search of my name and all these BS articles and blogs come up. I've tried contacting the media, but they're not interested in 'old news'.

1. I was taught in my training that chokeholds were for deadly force situations. WTF is up with all these chokehold deaths/murders? And let me tell you as a Severe PTSD sufferer and chokehold survivor, that even if you aren't killed you can certainly suffer permanent damage.
2. I've tried contacting web masters to remove libel such as 'Cat Lafitte hates black people' (I cringe just typing that) and get no response. Instead of having them removed, I would be perfectly happy with flooding the internet with the truth and 'drowning out' the untrue crap.
3. Without MSM assistance- how can I get my story out and attempt to repair my badly tarnished image?

Interesting story. Any way to confirm any of it?

Maybe you could try contacting the NLBS guy and set up a skype interview to help with publicity? Just an idea. Also you could try Ben Swann, or Dennis Lynch, or some of the other alternative media types.

a reply to: TKDRL
Here's my OT cards, proving how many hours I worked that weekend:

I worked 3p-11p Fri, 3p-4:30a Sat, and 9a-9p
So, I just did the math....33.5 hours in 3 days. Sorry, I think I said 36 in the OP. It felt like more because of commute time.
Here's the letter in response to my complaints against the ER:

I haven't been at that address in years, so if you're planning on stalking me don't bother going there.

This is my good friend Randy E. Aguebor. He's a very talented voice actor (sounds just like James Earl Jones!) Anyway he had the idea to record an interview. It does seem that youtube stuff shows up first in a search, which is good. But... it wouldn't be enough to bump all the bad stuff. And... it's not like employers are going to click on it and listen to what I have to say, they're just going to glance through until words like 'brawling' and 'racist' come up.

I'm not super tech savvy, does anyone know how articles are ranked in an internet search? It's not by chronological order or all my neutral stuff would have washed out the bad stuff.

Oh...and another problem with an interview.... because of all this I suffer from a severe Anxiety Disorder. Whenever I start talking about it I start crying hysterically like a total idiot. It's super embarrassing, but I can't really control it. I am still in so much pain over what they did to me.

a reply to: TKDRL
Thanks for the suggestions! I just sent a message to Ben Swann via his website, but the Dennis Lynch guy wasn't so clearcut to get to. I'm not so sure he'd be interested anyway, it says he's a documentary film maker.

Please keep thinking of any other ideas!

a reply to: ladyvalkyrie

Interesting story and i hope you get some support. Something is obviously wrong with our police departments and unless we get at least SOME communication from your side of the fence we have no choice but to take the position many of us have.

Sadly the blue shield prevents you from saying what needs to be said as well as the unions.

a reply to: ladyvalkyrie

Sadly many members here are only interested in themselves and not discussing or helping or coming to an agreement so only a select few will even click on your thread because it doesnt appeal to their emotional sense of self.

Try making the title a little bit more controversial and you might get more people engaged in this conversation.

a reply to: onequestion
Thank you! Yeah the Fraternal Order of Police was of no help. Apparently it's no problem for all these people to 'ignore it until it goes away'. 'It' being me, of course.

And what's so frightening is the question "How many other times has something like this happened?" If it's not reported you'd never know.

RIP to Charles Dorner. It broke my heart when that was unfolding, because I knew how police departments really operate. And I knew that the whole thing could have been prevented. And I knew that systematic abuse and neglect can literally drive you insane.

a reply to: ladyvalkyrie
Ok, that's some good stuff. I am glad that address is no longer current.
Dennis Lynch, here is his facebook, as far as it seems, he runs it himself.
Yeah, he made some good docu on illegal immigration, but he was also the guy that covered the bundy ranch thing, he was the brave ass reporter that tried to act as a mediator, so it's not all he does Word on the streets is he is also testing the waters for a presidential run.

a reply to: ladyvalkyrie

Theres clearly unresolved issues like this across the board and if you say or do anything the unions will black ball you and tie your hands.

Its a really crappy time to be a police officer because the bad ones have really taken over the departments and the good ones get black balled.

I have some close personal knowledge on the inner workings of some departments but ill leave at that and im sure you know already.

a reply to: onequestion

Crap tacos! That's really good advice, but I can't figure out how to change the title! If any mods bump into this, please help!

The intriguing title is actually what pulled me in to have a look.

a reply to: TKDRL

Me too but Im attracted to abstract and obscure ideas and ways of thinking so I can never tell what im getting myself into.

Admittedly, I prettymuch hate cops and avoid them at all costs. I could probably be diagnosed as having PTSD of some form due to a particular rough encounter with cops. During forced interactions with cops, I am prone to anxiety attacks. Doesn't help that cops view this as being suspicious, so yeah, I would rather avoid them.

a reply to: TKDRL

I avoid them at all costs.

It doesnt matter if your not doing something wrong they will use anything as an excuse to violate you.

Thats really a problem, they look for problems therefor cause problems.

Maybe the real problem is they are all acting like detectives to find plants instead of just keeping the peace.

Surprised this thread just fizzled. We have tons of people jumping to the defense of a cop shooting 12 year old driveby gangland style. Seems we have a cop here sticking their neck out and joining up personally for some help, and nothing. Seems odd lol

a reply to: TKDRL
Thank you! Welcome to my world. I've been shouting this from the rooftops since it happened and everyone chooses to turn a blind eye. My condition would not be as severe as it is if I had gotten proper support in the beginning...and it still continues to this day. It is literally maddening.

Just before starting this thread I contacted an AP reporter. His response was basically 'why should anyone care?'

Ummm.... steroids helped kicked this thing off. I was taking them for an actual illness. I can tell you for a fact that guys on the department take steroids to 'get their swole on'. And guys are sleep deprived all the time. They're always working extra jobs and extra shifts to try to make more money because a lot of them are living outside their means.

Forget adequate mental health for officers....try NONE. About a year before this happened I wanted to see a therapist because of stress and I was concerned about drinking too much....I had to jump though hoops to get mental health approved through the insurance...then I had to pay full price for the sessions! $250 for the initial evaluation and $150 a pop from there! Wouldn't you think law enforcement should be one of the few jobs to offer FREE mental health???? Any time, all the time, no questions asked?

Everyone involved- supervisors putting me in danger, putting everyone else in danger (what if I was actually a violent person?), breaking the rules, breaking the law.... just generally being asshats. None of them even got a slap on the wrist. They're all free to do this again to the next guy.

Plus, at the time I was a citizen of Dallas! So where's the outrage that the PD knew about someone in crisis and deliberately ignored their calls for help for 7 days?

WTF do you mean, why should anyone care? It's all set up to happen again.

....and now I need Anxiety meds.

Oh yeah....and WHILE all this was going on I sent several e-mails to the FBI (the only way to communicate with them). They didn't even bother to e-mail or call me back, much less intervene or even investigate after the fact.

So you can add FBI incompetence to the list of "WTF?!"

I would make the video and lay out your side of the story, post it on YouTube, and email all the media you can think of a link.