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After death of Brusly teens, lawmakers seek creation of "Classic Black" license plate
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BATON ROUGE - The death of two Brusly teenagers sparked a movement to educate law enforcement on high-speed pursuit training and policies.
Building on that tragic event, State Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter and Rep. Chasity Martinez are proposing a black, specialty license plate to fund further education for law enforcement on high-speed pursuits.
In 2022, two teenage girls were killed on New Year’s Eve when a former Addis Police Officer ran a red light, crashing into and killing Caroline Gill and Maggie Dunn. Money raised from the purchase of a "Classic Black" specialty license plate will be used to pay for law enforcement to attend training for emergency vehicle operations.
The plate will cost $25, in addition to the standard motor vehicle license tax.
“These were two young, beautiful girls who lost their lives, and I commend the families to have such a good, positive attitude on this situation and to continue to push the representative and me on what we can do to improve the situation,” Kleinpeter said. “I think this is one step forward.”
Last month, the pair’s family partnered with the Iberville Parish Sheriff’s Office to create technology that would notify drivers that a pursuit is active, among other things. The Pursuit Alert system is available through an app and provides real-time notifications to drivers. According to Sheriff Brett Stassi, Iberville was the first department to outfit deputies with the technology.
Two years ago, Mississippi created its own black tag to create a death fund for the families of first responders who are killed in the line of duty.
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