By Jim Mustian and Lea Skene, The Related Press
The FBI mentioned Sept. 22 it has opened a civil rights investigation into allegations in current lawsuits that police in Baton Rouge, La., assaulted drug suspects they detained in an obscure warehouse often called the “Courageous Cave.”
In a single case, a person says he was taken to the warehouse and overwhelmed so severely he wanted hospital care earlier than being booked into jail. In one other, a lady claims she was strip-searched, with an officer utilizing a flashlight to scan her physique.
Because the first criticism was filed final month, town’s mayor has ordered the ability closed, the police division has disbanded its avenue crimes unit and an officer on the middle of the allegations — the son of a present deputy chief — resigned and was arrested on a easy battery cost.
FBI officers confirmed Sept. 22 that the company has opened an investigation based mostly on “allegations that members of the division could have abused their authority.”
This newest scandal provides to a protracted listing of corruption and misconduct allegations plaguing the Baton Rouge Police Division, which got here underneath vital scrutiny following the 2016 deadly police capturing of Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old Black man. In 2021, a corruption probe into the division’s narcotics division led to legal fees and inner self-discipline towards officers accused of stealing medication from proof and mendacity on police experiences.
Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul, who was employed to guide the company within the wake of Sterling’s killing, mentioned he was so involved over the current warehouse claims that he drove to the FBI’s New Orleans discipline division and requested them to assessment the allegations.
“There have been some errors made,” Paul informed The Related Press, acknowledging that his inner affairs division initially failed to research. “I promise you we are going to resolve this.”
The newest lawsuit, which attorneys filed earlier this week on behalf of Ternell Brown, alleges officers pulled her over in June, took her to the identical “black website” and strip-searched her for “contraband.” She was launched with out fees when officers concluded the prescribed drugs in her possession have been authorized.
Her attorneys wrote within the lawsuit that they’re nonetheless studying “the complete horror of what the road crimes unit did there. … Even those that weren’t overwhelmed on the torture warehouse, we now know, have been nonetheless sexually humiliated.”
The officer who resigned, Troy Lawrence Jr., has been the topic of a number of civil rights lawsuits and extreme power complaints in recent times. His father, Troy Lawrence Sr., was promoted to deputy chief in 2020 after commanding the road crimes unit, which glided by the acronym BRAVE, for Baton Rouge Space Violence Elimination.
It was not clear late Sept. 22 whether or not Lawrence Jr. had an lawyer who might touch upon his behalf. An e mail despatched to the police union in search of remark late the identical day wasn’t instantly answered.
In line with a lawsuit filed final month, he repeatedly turned off and muted his physique digicam throughout his interactions with Jeremy Lee, the suspect who ended up hospitalized with damaged bones and different accidents. Contained in the warehouse, officers punched and kicked him whereas he screamed for assist, the lawsuit alleges. After he was violently interrogated and arrested, the one legal cost prosecutors pursued towards Lee was resisting arrest.
Shortly after Lee’s lawsuit, Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome ordered the warehouse closed, saying she was beforehand unaware of the ability’s existence.
“The severity of those allegations deeply considerations me, particularly given the potential affect on the belief our group locations in us,” Broome mentioned.
Thomas Frampton, an lawyer representing each Lee and Brown, mentioned his group has heard from dozens extra folks alleging abuse contained in the warehouse they usually plan to file further lawsuits.
“This sort of misconduct is so entrenched that individuals had little motive to count on any type of optimistic change,” he mentioned, praising the FBI’s choice to launch an investigation.
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Mustian reported from Washington, Skene from Baltimore.
