Parents of Kyren Lacy file suit against Louisiana State Police, blaming 'fabricated investigation' for son's death

The parents of the late LSU receiver Kyren Lacy have filed a lawsuit against Louisiana State Police alleging a “fabricated investigation” led to Lacy taking his own life, according to a report from WBRZ. The news outlet reported the story on Friday.

Lacy was arrested following a crash in January 2025 that resulted in the death of a 78-year-old man, Herman Hall. His case was set to go before a grand jury trial when Lacy took his own life.

“The extreme emotional distress inflicted by Defendants’ intentional and reckless misconduct was the direct and proximate cause of Mr. Lacy’s decision to take his own life,” the lawsuit said. “But for Defendants’ fabricated investigation, false arrest and malicious prosecution, Mr. Lacy would be alive today.”

The crux of the suit is the handling of the crash investigation, which ultimately pinned fault for the accident on Kyren Lacy. Previously, Lacy’s attorney Matthew Ory had combated that narrative.

In October, Ory said he obtained an investigative report proving that Kyren Lacy was not at fault. Ory said Lacy passed four cars, as police previously said, but data showed he was more than 90 yards behind Hall. At the time of impact, he was more than 70 yards behind the crash.

“He was back in his lane of travel 92.3 yards back in his lane behind Mr. Hall,” Ory said in October. “At the time of impact, he’s 72.6 yards behind the vehicles at the time of impact. Key [words] – behind the vehicles. That is not how this story was ever painted. Never.”

New details from the suit claim that police instructed a witness to say that Lacy caused the wreck. According to the lawsuit, when the witness refused to sign a written statement, the trooper marked it as “refused” and turned off his body camera.

The suit also recounts a police interaction with the driver the suit claims was at fault for the wreck while they were in the hospital. Among other things, the trooper told that individual they were not being charged with anything, “so y’all don’t stress about that at all.”

That driver had previously been cited for following too closely in both 2015 and 2020, a detail that Louisiana State Police did not mention during their interview. The suit also alleges the troopers changed an original ticket citation for that driver from “following too close” to “crossing left of center,” in what the lawsuit claims was a means to shift blame toward Kyren Lacy.

The lawsuit also cites an independent review that found “several inconsistencies” in the police investigation. Lacy committed suicide on April 12, 2025 — a year ago today and just one day after that independent review was completed.

According to Kyren Lacy’s parents, he was “overwhelmed by the emotional distress, public scrutiny, reputational harm, loss of professional opportunities and mental anguish caused by Defendants’ wrongful accusations, false arrest and malicious prosecution.”