In a federal lawsuit (PDF) filed against four Shreveport police officers, a Houston man claims that he was sodomized with a nightstick after being forced into the back of a patrol car.
Excessive force, assault, negligent hiring, battery and false imprisonment are among the allegations made in the lawsuit, filed July 10, which also names the city of Shreveport as a defendant.
According to his lawsuit, Desmond Lewis had just left an area Walgreens on July 12, 2014, when Shreveport police officers mistook him for a burglary suspect they were looking for.
Admitting that be fled "out of fear" when the officers demanded that he approach their vehicle, Lewis said he was pursued, arrested and handcuffed.
Rather than let him go when they realized he was not their suspect, however, officers allegedly punched him "several times in the face," then forced him face-down into the back of a patrol vehicle. The officers, he claims, began beating him in the legs with a nightstick, then forced the nightstick "into the rectum."
The lawsuit claims that he required (and received) medical attention for serious injuries as a result of the arrest. Lewis was charged with resisting arrest and battery of a police officer and spent 40 days in jail. The charges were dropped.
Bill Goodin, a spokesperson for the department, declined to comment to the Shreveport Times and KTBS.
