KENNER, La. — Kenner Police are investigating how an officer acted after responding to a call involving a dispute over a man from Puerto Rico being denied a car he paid for at the Hertz Rental Car counter at Armstrong International Airport on May 10.
Initially reported by CBS’s David Begnaud, the story centers on Humberto Marchand, a federal law enforcement officer of 25 years from Puerto Rico who was attempting to pick up a rental car he reserved at the Hertz counter.
Marchand was being denied the car by a Hertz worker as she requested a passport despite Marchand being a U.S. citizen. A Kenner Police officer was eventually called and bodycam video shows the officer being dismissive and using some vulgarity and asking Marchand to stop causing problems.
However, some allegations by Marchand, that the officer talked about calling the border patrol, are not supported by the video, according to Kenner Police.
“After viewing the video the Kenner Police Department has initiated an administrative investigation into the matter… We do not feel the officer represented the department well in this incident and commit to a full investigation into the officer’s conduct and take necessary corrective action.”
Hertz did not clarify if its clerk was punished or fired, but the company did send WWL-TV a statement commenting on the matter.
“Hertz accepts Puerto Rican driver’s licenses from our customers renting in the U.S. without requiring a valid passport," the statement said. "We sincerely regret that our policy was not followed and have apologized to Mr. Marchand and refunded his rental. We are reinforcing our policies with employees to ensure that they are understood and followed consistently across our locations.”