The Law in Louisiana

NEW ORLEANS (CN) - A sheriff's officer beat the daylights out of a peaceful black woman after a fender-bender, Macing her, breaking her hand and dislocating her shoulder, and then bragged about it, the woman claims in court.

Janice Beard sued the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office and its Deputy Crane Paul Wolf.

After putting her in hospital with a totally unnecessary beating, Wolf bragged: "I was called out to the black club last night and two black women jumped me and I had to beat that little bitty one," Beard say in the complaint.

Beard was a passenger in the Feb. 22 accident in which the driver of the car she was in smashed a rearview mirror of another car while backing out of the parking lot of a bar, according to the complaint.

Wolf responded to the 911 call "an erratic and aggressive manner," Beard says in the complaint.

It continues: "Upon arrival, defendant Deputy Crane Paul Wolf, exited his vehicle and yelled 'Everybody disburse!' [sic]. was immediately informed by the parties present, including petitioner, that the 911 call was for a minor accident in which all parties involved were attempting to amicably solve the matter and only required documentation of the accident by appropriate authorities. Immediately taking offense to the information given, Deputy Crane Paul Wolf stated 'Don't tell me how to do my ***** job (obscenity omitted). I know the law.'" (Parentheses in complaint.)

Seeking refuge from Wolf's "clearly belligerent state," Beard says she "retreated to the passenger side of the 2011 Chevrolet Traverse and closed the door. Safely within the vehicle, the petitioner rested her head against the headrest of the passenger seat and closed her eyes."

Then, Beard says in the complaint, Wolf went bonkers.

"Suddenly and without warning and/or provocation, defendant Deputy Crane Paul Wolf snatched the passenger door open in an aggressive manner, sprayed petitioner with Mace and/or pepper spray directly in the face, snatched her from the car, and then threw her on the ground. Despite the petitioner's desperate cries of pain and agony, the defendant, Deputy Crane Paul Wolf, continued to spray Mace in her face and pull her from the vehicle by the arms.

"Defendant, Deputy Crane Paul Wolf, at no time prior to the ambush or during the encounter ever requested the petitioner to exit the vehicle or informed of any offense or violation she committed that would lead amount to probable cause for the defendant, Deputy Crane Paul Wolf, to request she exit the vehicle and certainly no factual basis to initiate an arrest.

"After petitioner was helplessly thrown from the vehicle to the rocky gravel and her hand and/or fingers were broken together with being drug [sic] by her shoulder which was snapped from its socket and/or tom, she was handcuffed and drug through the gravel and thrown into the patrol car. The defendant, Deputy Crane Paul Wolf, did not properly secure the petitioner with a safety belt. During the ride to the police station, the petitioner was hurled about the vehicle for the entire nineteen mile route from the scene of the incident to the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office."

At the jail, she says, sheriff's officers told her it would take three to five days to get any medical attention for her broken bones and other injuries.

"Petitioner also witnessed other officers at the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office bragging about beating other inmates 'just because.'"

Beard claims she was falsely arrested, falsely charged with crimes she did not commit, was never given her Miranda rights, and that "to date, petitioner is suffering with severe, permanent and debilitating injuries requiring surgery, extensive therapy and follow-up care," including a torn rotator cuff, broken bone in her hand, a sprained wrist, and multiple lacerations and bruises.

And, the complaint states: "In the days immediately following the subject incident, defendant, Deputy Crane Paul Wolf, was bragging regarding his participation in the events[:] 'I was called out to the black club last night and two black women jumped me and I had to beat that little bitty one.'"

Beard seeks medical expenses, court costs and punitive damages for abuse of process, false arrest, and false and malicious imprisonment.

She is represented by Willie G. Johnson Jr. of Baton Rouge.

A Louisiana parish is the equivalent of a county in other states.

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