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Baton Rouge Police deputy chief over patrol operations Troy Lawrence attends a press conference, Thursday, September 1, 2022, at Baton Rouge Police Headquarters to address recent internal affairs investigations and administrative matters. Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Three Baton Rouge Police Department officers have been fired and a fourth resigned while they face criminal charges for allegedly covering up evidence of one officer beating a detainee during a strip search in 2020. Baton Rouge Police Chief Thomas Morse, Jr.
announced the terminations in a press release Friday, ending disciplinary hearings which had started in August. Lieutenant Troy Lawrence, Corporal Todd Thomas and Corporal Douglas Chutz were each fired, while officer Martele Jackson resigned in lieu of termination. The four have also been criminally indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice and malfeasance in office.
Jackson's attorneys say he was the officer who blew the whistle on the plot. If any of the officers are convicted of malfeasance in office, they will be prohibited from becoming a law enforcement officer again in the state of Louisiana. Morse said his decision is made only on BRPD's internal investigation and is not related to the criminal proceedings.
"I am not a legal expert...
but I am confident that these officers violated the policies they are accused of, and that is what I have based my decision to terminate upon," Morse said. The four officers' charges stem from a September 2020 confrontation after police arrested Baton Rouge rap star NBA Youngboy and rounded up several of his associates during a music video shoot, where police say multiple guns were found . The four officers allegedly tried to strip-search one of the suspects inside a bathroom, at one point using a stun gun.
Arrest records say Lawrence — then the leader of the department's Street Crimes Unit, and later promoted to deputy chief — told the suspect, "You see this guy here, he is about to knock the f*** out of you.” The accused officers later conspired to write a letter, falsely claiming the body camera was missing or lost. In his statement, Morse reiterated that today's firings show BRPD's commitment to holding their officers accountable.
"As Chief of Police, and a member of BRPD for more than 22 years, I know that the vast majority of our officers do the right things, at the right times, for all the right reasons each and every day. My decision to terminate these four officers was made with these exemplary officers in mind," Morse said in a statement..
