Sentencing in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Civil Rights Violation
| U.S. Attorney’s Office September 22, 2009 |
BATON ROUGE, LA—David R. Dugas, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana, announced today that NATHAN DAVIS, a former police officer with the Baton Rouge Police Department in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was sentenced today in federal court by U.S. District Court Judge Frank J. Polozola on a charge of deprivation of civil rights under color of law.
On April 1, 2009, DAVIS pled guilty to a felony civil rights violation. DAVIS admitted in court that on or about March 4, 2007, he purposefully used excessive and unreasonable force against B.T., a man who at the time of the abuse was handcuffed, by pepper spraying him in the face without any justification. Earlier on this date, DAVIS had arrested B.T. at his residence for disturbing the peace and resisting an officer.
DAVIS was sentenced today to a term of imprisonment of 78 months followed by a term of supervised release of two years.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Baton Rouge Police Department and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert W. Piedrahita and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.
For further information, contact David R. Dugas, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana, or Lyman Thornton, First Assistant U.S. Attorney, at (225) 389-0443.