Gretna Police Dept. is being sued for alleged police abuse
18th October 2021 · 0 Comments
By Ryan Whirty
Contributing Writer
As Kevin Beauregard sat in a cell at the Gretna Police Department in the early hours of May 6, 2020, his left arm was handcuffed to the cell bench while his right hand rested in a cast. Hovering nearby were several GPD officers.
Just a few hours earlier, Gretna police officers had allegedly followed him from his motel room, pulled him from his car, handcuffed his left arm to his leg while he sat on a road curb, then took him to jail without once giving him his Miranda rights or telling him on what charges he was being arrested.
Searches of Beauregard’s car and his motel room – searches that he did not consent to – allegedly uncovered a gun and marijuana. While he was in custody, Beauregard was shown a small amount of marijuana and some money when he was in custody, apparently as evidence of crimes.
As the roughly half-dozen police reportedly began taunting and verbally assaulting him, Beauregard – frustrated by the taunts, hemmed in by the cell walls, and feeling helpless because of the handcuffs and arm cast – kicked his foot twice backwards on the wall under the bench on which he sat.
Despite being unarmed and physically unable to cause violence, and despite not threatening any of the officers, Beauregard was swarmed by the officers and brutally beaten for nearly 15 minutes.
The attack began when one cop swung a closed fist at Beauregard’s head, and although Beauregard managed to dodge that swing, the officer then body slammed him and pressed Beauregard’s face against the wall of the cell.
Then, according to the startling allegations in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court by Beauregard against the GPD and individual officers in April 2021, the alleged savagery continued.
“Another GPD officer uncuffed Mr. Beauregard and threw him to the holding cell floor,” the lawsuit alleges, “at which point several officers rushed into the room, such that a total of six or seven GPD officers all began to simultaneously beat Mr. Beauregard with closed fists, elbows, and knees. Multiple officers held down Mr. Beauregard by his legs, as one officer strangled him; another repeatedly kicked him in the ribs; and still another twisted the arm in a cast, all while shoving a knee into Mr. Beauregard’s left side.”
According to the lawsuit, “Beauregard was in a severe amount of pain throughout the beating and, because he was restrained by multiple Officer Defendants, he was unable to avoid the onslaught of blows.” It added that during the attack, Beauregard “felt terrified, defenseless, violated, and traumatized.”
The suit added, “Mr. Beauregard – who had done nothing more than kick a wall behind him twice – lay face down and helpless on the floor, unable to resist the beating because of the pain and anguish he suffered throughout its occurrence.
“… At no point did Mr. Beauregard pose a threat to any of the officers. Not only was he restrained by handcuffs to a solid bench, he was alone in a holding room and had no access to any weapon or anything that could be used as a weapon.”
After the violence subsided, officers took Beauregard to the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center, but at no time was he treated by an EMT or a medical professional. All he received for the shattering pain induced by the beating was ibuprofen.
Because of that terrifying night, asserts the lawsuit, “Mr. Beauregard sustained multiple injuries to his head, neck, and torso, and continues to suffer from ongoing neck and back problems caused by the attack. … Mr. Beauregard has continued to endure significant mental and emotional stress and anxiety, which has made it challenging for him to live his day-to-day life.”
According to the lawsuit, the psychological and physical effects of the alleged beating caused him to lose his job and his ability to provide for his 5-year-old son. Beauregard now lives in his car.
The lawsuit lists as defendants four officers with the Gretna Police Department who were part of the alleged beating – Christopher Breaux, Kayla English, Timothy Kennedy, Roland Kindell – as well as other “John Doe” officers who were present at the attack but whose names are unknown to the plaintiff. Also listed as a defendant is GPD Chief Arthur Lawson.
Beauregard’s legal action was filed as part of the ACLU of Louisiana’s Justice Lab Project, in which the ACLU is receiving complaints of police brutality and violations of civil rights from across the state. To date, the ACLU has assisted dozens of plaintiffs in bringing legal action for such abuses.
A key aspect of the ACLU’s Justice Lab effort was a focus on how police abuses and violence disproportionately impacts people of color, a trend that causes Black and Brown residents to distrust and even fear law enforcement.
“This incident is very egregious,” said ACLU of Louisiana attorney Nora Ahmed, who is representing Beauregard. “We thought it was very important to show what happens to people of color when they’re in the custody of a police officer, after they’ve been brought to a correctional facility.”
The Beauregard lawsuit stresses the racial prejudice that’s seemingly inherent in policing in Louisiana and in municipalities like Gretna. The suit refers to the GPD’s lingering reputation for excessive policing against people of color.
“Mr. Beauregard is one of numerous individuals who allege they have endured senseless violence at the hands of GPD, a department with a disturbing history of discrimination and violence against Black people,” the action says.
The lawsuit reports that even before the May 2020 beating, Beauregard had several other instances of possible police abuse and impropriety as a teenager, leading to lifelong psychological scarring and fear of police, a situation many people of color, especially Black males and youth, know all too well.
“[Beauregard’s] youth involves a history of similarly unprovoked negative encounters,” the suit charges. “Those multiple instances of police harassment and assault underly his outrage with the circumstances at issue here. They have also bred such distrust in law enforcement that he feels obligated to vindicate his civil rights for the most recent horror he endured as a Black man in America.”
The societal repercussions can be extensive and tragic.
“The targeting of minority Black youth by police perpetuates cycles of criminalization and poverty in Black communities,” the suit states. “Young Black people who have negative interactions with law enforcement have lower educational achievement and a higher likelihood of being incarcerated in the future.
“The abuse that Mr. Beauregard endured at the hands of GPD was a continuation of this pattern of discriminatory treatment that he and many people of color are forced to confront from a young age.
“Mr. Beauregard seeks to hold Lawson and Officer Defendants accountable for violating his constitutional and statutory rights on May 5, 2020. It is evident that, unless and until Defendants are held accountable for their racially motivated misconduct and violence, they will continue to violate the rights of Black people – regardless of whether those individuals are cooperative, subdued, or otherwise pose no threat.”
The Louisiana Weekly reached out to several representatives of the City of Gretna, including Mayor Belinda C. Constant, multiple City Council members and the GPD, but only Councilman Rudy S. Smith responded. Smith said via email that he couldn’t comment at this time, adding that he had not been aware of the legal action and that he “would need time to review the information before any public statements.”
Several attorneys from the national law firm of Alston & Bird assisted the plaintiff and the ACLU in filing the legal action.
The response also asserts that Beauregard ignored officers’ orders and resisted arrest, and it adds that Beauregard admitted to possessing marijuana.
The defense has requested that Beauregard’s civil case be held over until the criminal allegations against Beauregard are settled. However, Ahmed said, whatever criminal charges are facing Beauregard does not change what happened to him, including the adds that Beauregard admitted to possessing marijuana.
The defense has requested that Beauregard’s civil case be held over until the criminal allegations against Beauregard are settled. However, Ahmed said, whatever criminal charges are facing Beauregard does not change what happened to him, including the alleged violence, while he was defenseless in custody.
“That has no bearing on the [police] conduct that happened once Mr. Beauregard was in custody,” she said.
She said that just because Beauregard kicked his legs against a wall in exasperation doesn’t mean he posed any sort of threat to the officers accused of beating him.
“He was in the cell, and [the officers] were accusing him of all kinds of things,” Ahmed said. “In a moment of frustration, like the ones we’ve all had, he kicked his legs backwards. He didn’t harm anyone, and [the leg kicks] weren’t directed at anyone in particular. It happened when he was seated and restrained and handcuffed, and he was no threat to anyone, but he was still forced to endure a brutal beating.”
Ahmed said that what allegedly happened to Beauregard at the hands of Gretna police is just one of the countless instances of violence and impropriety against which thousands of people rallied against last year following the murder by police of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other unarmed Black citizens.
“What we saw happen in 2020 was people taking to the streets in droves, demanding accountability for police conduct,” she said. “We have the right to demand accountability. All of our public representatives need to hear the voices of the people and what matters to them. The Black people of Louisiana are important, and there are people on the ground working to make sure [Black voices] are heard.”
This article originally published in the October 18, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
