NEW ORLEANS (CN) - Louisiana sheriff's officers ruptured a man's spleen and threw him and another man in jail, allegedly for robbing a check-cashing place, though the actual robber had already admitted he did it, the two beating victims claim in court.
David Will and Shane Ellzey sued St. Bernard Parish Sheriff James Pohlmann, his Office and eight of his officers, in Federal Court.
St. Bernard Parish is immediately south of New Orleans. Parishes in Louisiana are equivalent to counties.
The lawsuit states: "Will and Ellzey were falsely arrested on 30 August 2012 for crimes they did not commit, were physically injured by the defendant officers, which caused Will to be placed in ICU at University Hospital for five days for a ruptured spleen caused by being kicked in the chest and other injuries suffered by Will and also Ellzey.
"Their false arrest caused them to be under the cloud of prosecution for crimes they did not commit, which charges were after more then ten months dismissed by the district attorney."
The men claim defendant Officer Randy Baiamonte "kicked and beat Will while Will was handcuffed, causing serious, permanent physiological injuries."
They claim the seven other officers' "actions and failure to act" caused or contributed to the injuries and civil rights violations, and that Sheriff Pohlmann's policies and procedures also caused them.
"Hurricane Isaac struck coastal Louisiana causing power outages and other damages on or about 29-30 August 2012," the complaint states.
"St. Bernard Parish was effected [sic] by the storm and suffered from such outages and damages, including the St. Bernard Parish community of Poydras.
"At approximately 11:25 hours, on 30 August 2012, the Quick Check store located at 617 Bayou Road in St. Bernard Parish (Zip Code 70085) was victimized by burglary.
"Neither David Will nor Shane Ellzey were involved in the burglary not [sic] did they receive any things taken from the store.
"However the defendants named herein arrested Will and Ellzey, falsely charged them with certain felonies, and caused them to be falsely imprisoned for extended periods of time." (Parentheses in complaint.)
The defendants charged Will and Ellzey with "looting and possession of stolen things, respectively," according to the compliant.
It continues: "Although the defendants and the Court soon got a confession and plea bargin [sic] from the juvenile who did rob the Quick Check store and that individual did not implicate Will or Ellzey in the robbery, defendants continued to prosecute Will and Ellzey and to keep Will incarcerated.
"The defendants also falsely arrested other persons in the immediate neighborhood and charged them with similar offenses as well. Those persons, like Will and Ellzey, did not commit the crimes alleged and like Will and Ellzey, all charges have been dropped against the other persons. ...
"At the time of the incident which took place on 30 August 2012, Will and Ellzey and many of eyewitness [sic] were on the scene and shall testify to the events that took place including the arrest of the juvenile who admitted to looting the Quick Check store.