The Louisiana State Police Commission on Thursday upheld the firing of a former trooper who shot an unarmed man in the back during a 2018 traffic stop behind a Perkins Road grocery store.

Kasha Domingue was fired in 2021 and last year pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, a misdemeanor, after initially being accused of illegal use of a weapon and aggravated second-degree battery.

She pleaded before the panel that she was new to the Baton Rouge area and had faulty video equipment when she pulled over a group of young men behind the Village Grocery store near the intersection of Perkins Road and Siegen Lane. She said one of the youths rushed at her and that she reacted in the heat of the moment.

Kevin Ducote, who worked in the agency's internal affairs division at the time, said Domingue's story didn't match what was caught on a video surveillance system behind the store.

"We asked her to explain, give her account of what happened," Ducote said under questioning by a State Police lawyer. "At the time we knew ... what she had told other troopers, we knew what she had told detectives, and it didn’t add up to what the video showed, so we asked her to explain her account of what happened compared to what the video showed."

Another investigator narrated video showing Clifton Dilley running away from the trooper, not at her.

"It now appears that she has drawn her service weapon. Clifton Dilley, now you can see his right foot is forward, his left foot is back. He appears to be in a full sprint along the suspect vehicle," the narrator said.

Ducote said Domingue violated several procedures.

"The policy says you are are strictly forbidden to use a firearm in a careless or negligent manner or to unjustly put another person’s life in danger, and she did all three of those things when she fired her weapon," he said.

Domingue testified on her own behalf and acknowledged under cross-examination that she didn't seek medical help for Dilley. 

"I didn’t call anybody. I called for help" because of the circumstances, she said. "I feel that in the situation that I was in I did what a state trooper should do, and I stood my ground and I got to go home that night."

Dilley was paralyzed in the shooting. He has a lawsuit pending against Domingue and the State Police.