A grandmother is suing the Baton Rouge Police Department (BRPD) after allegedly being “sexually humiliated” inside a “torture warehouse” following a traffic stop, she claims in lawsuit as the department reels from the fallout. of the now closed facilities.
The department is facing increasing scrutiny after the FBI opened a civil rights investigation into a facility dubbed “Brave Cave,” stemming from lawsuits filed by Ternell Brown and Jeremy Lee in September and August, respectively.
Four officers face criminal charges stemming from that investigation.
Brown, 47, claims she was “sexually humiliated” during unnecessary strip and body cavity searches at the facility on June 10.
Lee, accused of resisting arrest when he was taken to the warehouse on Jan. 9, was allegedly beaten so severely that “the local jail refused to admit him until he was treated at a nearby hospital,” according to his lawsuit.
Fox News Digital was unable to obtain incident reports from the Baton Rouge Police Department as of press time.
Ryan Thompson, one of the attorneys representing Brown in his lawsuit, told Fox News Digital that “there are still reports [of alleged abuse in the torture warehouse] enter” his office; At least one is sustainable, she said, and “another lawsuit will be filed in his name very soon.”
BRPD public information officer L’Jean McKneely told Fox News Digital that the department “is committed to addressing these troubling allegations and has launched administrative and criminal investigations.”
Jeremy Lee is pictured in the warehouse, known as the “Brave Cave,” located behind the Baton Rouge Police Department’s First Precinct. Thompson Justice Institute
“Boss [Murphy] “Paul met with FBI officials and requested their assistance in ensuring an independent review of these complaints,” McKneely wrote in an email. “The Narcotics Processing Facility has been permanently closed and the Street Crimes Unit has been disbanded and reassigned.”
Brown was stopped for her vehicle’s window tint on June 10, according to body camera footage reviewed by Fox News Digital.
The officers asked her and her husband to stand outside the car with their hands on the rear hood.
After seeing an open Twisted Tea, they searched the vehicle and found two different types of pills prescribed to Brown stored together in the same bottle.
Brown’s attorneys allege that their client told agents “at least four times” that the pills were prescribed to him legally and contend that their combined storage is not illegal.
Jeremy Lee, photographed in the body camera footage, was allegedly beaten by officers when they took him to the “Brave Cave” facility on January 9. Thompson Justice Institute
Anyway, they wrote, the officers “forcibly” took Brown and her husband to the “Brave Cave.” There, according to the lawsuit, Brown underwent illegal strip and body cavity searches.
Thompson told Fox News Digital that a medical professional must execute these searches per department policy, a step that was not taken in Brown’s case. A supervisor must be called to obtain authorization and then an order must be filed with a judge or magistrate, she said. To conduct a body cavity search, the attorney said, “you have to find something” to justify it during a body cavity search, and nothing was found in the searches of Brown and Lee.
“There is supposed to be documentation explaining why a strip search is necessary. “I haven’t seen any documentation of the findings and reasoning,” Thompson said.
Attorneys for Ternell Brown and Jeremy Lee allege that they were taken to the “Brave Cave” (the warehouse shown here in the body camera footage) to be subjected to hours of interrogation and illegal interrogation tactics. Thompson Justice Institute
In Lee’s case, police took him to a patrol car after executing a warrant at a North Baton Rouge home, where they found Lee sitting on the porch.
Thompson alleges that Lee was held in another patrol car for “hours” before an officer “put on certain clothing.” [intimidating] rap song”; When they arrived at the warehouse, Thompson said, officers can be seen removing their body cameras as they led Lee inside.
There, a criminal complaint shows, Lee allegedly “accused in [officers]”Thomson said. One of the officers allegedly knocked Lee down with a leg swing before other officers began kicking him.
Later footage, taken with a body camera placed between one of the officer’s legs, shows a lengthy interrogation period after the alleged beating.
“All kinds of things: do you know this rapper? Are you familiar with this rap group? Can you give us some information? It’s intelligence gathering,” Thompson said. “I wouldn’t say the type of questions were illegal, but the way they were asked was unconstitutional: You have the right to have an attorney present, you have the right to be Mirandized.”
Both East Baton Rouge Parish Prosecutor Anderson Dotson’s office, which represents the police department, and the Baton Rouge Police Union declined to comment due to pending litigation.
The FBI investigation into the department is ongoing.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn