Police Brutality / Individual record
Michael Noel
The Washington Post's Fatal Force database records Michael Noel in a fatal on-duty police shooting on 2015-12-21 in Breaux Bridge, LA. Individual circumstances and legal outcome require case-specific review.
- Record ID
- PB-330
- Incident date
- December 21, 2015
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Breaux Bridge, LA
- Agency
- St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Department
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
What happened
Michael Noel, a Black man living in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, died on December 21, 2015, after his mother sought help because he was experiencing a psychiatric crisis. According to APM Reports' reconstruction from law-enforcement and court records, Noel had schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Deputies tried to restrain him under a protective-custody order, then repeatedly deployed Tasers when he resisted handcuffing. The shocks did not incapacitate him; officers said Noel swung a loose handcuff and reached toward a deputy's gun. Sergeant Pittard Chapman fired two fatal handgun shots. Noel was unarmed. Local prosecutors deemed the shooting justified. The request for medical treatment, repeated Taser failures and death during attempted protective custody are essential to the case.
Investigation & findings
Individual legal and investigative outcome not yet reviewed.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 1110
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- male
- Armed status (source)
- unarmed
- Flee status (source)
- not
- Agency IDs (source)
- 987
Sources & records
- Primary source
- Additional source
- Methodology and national police killings trackingMapping Police Violence · Dataset/methodology
- Fatal Force v2 — fatal on-duty police shootings, 2015–2024The Washington Post · Dataset