BATON ROUGE - A former officer with the Baton Rouge Police Department is appealing his termination following an August 2018 incident.

Yuseff Hamadeh claimed a suspect, later identified as Raheem Howard, shot at him on Aug. 7. during a traffic stop on N. 15th Street. Hamadeh said Howard shot at him first and he returned fire. Howard was arrested for that incident and prior offenses. On the night of his arrest, he told local media that he never had a gun and did not shoot at Hamadeh. During the investigation, it was learned that the officer's body camera and in-car camera were not rolling during the incident.

Detectives had to use video from witnesses and audio from the police unit's rearview camera to gather evidence. BRPD determined that only one shot was fired that night, coming from then-officer Hamadeh. He was fired upon completion of the investigation. 

Thursday morning, Hamadeh will go before the Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board to begin the appeal process for that decision.