Louisiana has agreed to pay $9 million to Clifton “Scotty” Dilley, a man left partially paralyzed after being shot in the back by a state trooper during a 2018 traffic stop in Baton Rouge—an incident that has come to symbolize the state’s struggles with police accountability and use of force. The settlement, finalized in July 2025 and revealed in early August, ranks among the largest ever in Louisiana’s history for a case involving police violence, according to the Associated Press.
Dilley, who was just 19 at the time of the shooting, was a passenger in a car pulled over by then-Louisiana State Police Trooper Kasha Domingue near Perkins Road. The stop, which began with routine questions to the driver, took a dramatic turn when the driver suddenly sped away, urging Dilley and other passengers to flee. As Dilley exited the vehicle and attempted to run, Domingue fired a shot that struck him in the lower back. The bullet hit his spine, confining him to a wheelchair for life.
What followed was a series of missteps and misrepresentations that would come to define the case. Instead of immediately reporting that she had fired her gun, Domingue radioed in that she had discharged her Taser—a falsehood that, according to Dilley’s attorneys and documents reviewed by WAFB, led to delayed and less urgent medical care for the wounded teenager. “I was like, ‘What’s wrong with my legs?’” Dilley recalled in a deposition. “She says, ‘It’s a Taser aftereffect. It will wear off.’” In reality, Dilley had suffered a devastating spinal injury from a bullet, not a non-lethal jolt from a Taser.
The official story began to unravel almost immediately. Domingue’s initial claim—that Dilley ran around the stopped vehicle, reached inside, and then charged toward her—was contradicted by surveillance footage from a nearby store. The video showed Dilley, unarmed, running away from the trooper, not toward her. “If that camera wasn’t there I don’t know how this would’ve turned out,” Dilley said, reflecting on the pivotal role the footage played in the investigation and subsequent lawsuit.
Domingue’s explanations for the shooting shifted over time. At various points, she claimed to have mistaken her firearm for a Taser, said she pulled the trigger by accident, or insisted she shot because she feared for her life. But the inconsistencies in her accounts, coupled with the clear video evidence, led Louisiana State Police to fire her in March 2021. The agency’s internal review concluded that Domingue shot Dilley “without any reliable justification,” failed to activate her body-worn camera, and gave “inconsistent accounts that were contradicted by surveillance video,” according to records cited by the Associated Press.
The case raised serious questions about Domingue’s fitness for duty. State police records, reviewed by AP, revealed a string of red flags during her time at the training academy, including failed tests and problems on the firing range. Instructors expressed concerns about her suitability, with one internal report noting she “struggled from the onset of the class, both physically and mentally.” Despite these misgivings, Domingue was allowed to graduate after completing additional training requirements, a decision that would later draw scrutiny as the lawsuit unfolded.
Years after the shooting, criminal charges finally followed. In October 2020, Domingue was arrested and indicted on charges of aggravated second-degree battery and illegal use of a weapon. She ultimately pleaded guilty in 2022 to obstruction of justice, a misdemeanor, allowing her to avoid jail time in exchange for agreeing never to work in law enforcement again. Her conviction was later expunged, but the damage to public trust lingered.
The fallout from Dilley’s shooting was not limited to the courtroom. The incident was cited in a 2025 report by the U.S. Department of Justice, which found that Louisiana State Police had engaged in a pattern of excessive force during arrests and vehicle pursuits. The DOJ highlighted the delay in accountability, noting that Domingue remained on the force for more than two years after the shooting because internal investigations were paused pending the outcome of criminal probes. “This can add significant delays to the accountability process,” the report stated. The federal investigation itself was launched in 2022, spurred by outrage over the in-custody death of Ronald Greene—a case that, like Dilley’s, fueled calls for reform and greater oversight of Louisiana law enforcement.
However, the DOJ’s findings were met with resistance from state officials. Governor Jeff Landry, a Republican, criticized the report as an attempt “to diminish the service and exceptionality of” the state police. By May 2025, the Justice Department rescinded its findings, declaring an end to what it called the “failed experiment of handcuffing local leaders and police departments.” The move brought an official close to federal oversight efforts but left unresolved questions about systemic reform and future accountability.
For Dilley, the $9 million settlement brings some measure of closure, but the impact of that July night in 2018 will last a lifetime. “What happened to me that night will forever change my life,” he said in his deposition. Represented by former U.S. attorney and Louisiana congressman Don Cazayoux, Dilley expressed hope that his case would “effect change within the state police that will keep this from ever happening again.”
The payout is notable not only for its size but also for its context. In 2021, Baton Rouge agreed to pay $4.5 million to the children of Alton Sterling, a Black man whose fatal shooting by police was captured on video and sparked widespread protests. The Dilley settlement, at double that amount, underscores the financial and reputational costs states can face when law enforcement actions go awry and accountability falters.
Attorneys for Domingue, as well as the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office, declined to comment on the settlement, which was finalized with the filing of dismissal motions in federal court on August 7, 2025. The terms were not made public in court records, but multiple news outlets, including WAFB and the Associated Press, confirmed the $9 million figure through sources with direct knowledge of the agreement.
As Louisiana closes the book on this high-profile case, the questions it raises about training, transparency, and accountability in policing remain as urgent as ever. For Dilley and others affected by police violence, the hope is that lessons learned here will translate into lasting change—and that no other family will have to endure a similar tragedy.