Lawsuit accuses Louisiana police of assault in ‘torture warehouse’
Police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, are being sued after being accused of beating a grandmother in a so-called “torture warehouse,” a new lawsuit alleges. Baton Rouge resident Ternell Brown was detained in June; but rather than taking her to the police station, Baton Rouge police officers drove her to an unmarked warehouse, according to a 18 September lawsuit she filed. Officers referred to this facility as the “Brave Cave,” where the street crimes unit held people in custody, assaulted them, and conducted strip and body-cavity searches on them, the lawsuit claimed. Police officers wrongfully informed Ms Brown that it was illegal to have different prescription medicines in the same pill container, according to the complaint. Ms Brown, 51, was allegedly arrested on suspicion of illegal drug activity – after officers discovered a legal prescription medication in her car during a traffic stop. She was taken to the warehouse and held there for two hours, the filing states. There, officers “forced her to spread her vagina and buttocks for inspection and examined her vagina using a flashlight,” despite not having a warrant, probable cause, or consent to conduct a strip or body cavity search, the suit states. After a couple of hours, Ms Brown was released without charge. The 51-year-old isn’t the first one to flag the “Brave Cave.” Jeremy Lee, a Baton Rouge resident, was arrested in January, and police took him to the warehouse, which one officer called the “Brave Cave,” WAFB previously reported. Bodycam footage captured Mr Lee sitting in a wooden chair in what appeared to be a warehouse. There, the 22-year-old was punched and kicked – although that happened off-camera, the outlet noted. After the incident, Mr Lee “was so badly beaten that authorities at East Baton Rouge Parish Prison refused to accept him” into its custody, “insisting that Mr Lee be taken to the hospital,” according to a lawsuit he filed. He was treated for broken ribs and other injuries. After the incident, Mr Lee filed a lawsuit; in August, the city’s mayor ordered the facility’s operations to be suspended “in light of the serious allegations.” The FBI is now investigating the claims, and an officer involved in Mr Lee’s alleged “Brave Cave” assault have resigned. An attorney for Ms Brown called out Police Chief Murphy Paul at a Monday press conference. “Chief Murphy Paul, instead of bringing BRPD policy in compliance with the constitution, decided to double down and endorse what his officers were doing and to insist that the illegal strip search policy that BRPD maintains was appropriate,” said Thomas Frampton. As a result of the chief’s decision, Mr Frampton said, “countless Baton Rouge citizens have been subject to illegal, sexually humiliating strip searches.” Chief Paul was interviewed by the Washington Post, although he declined to comment on the pending lawsuits, adding that an internal investigation is underway. He did, however, address the “Brave Cave” at a news conference last month, explaining that it was a narcotics processing facility owned by the parish that had been used by the police department for “approximately 20 years.” However, up until Mr Lee’s lawsuit came out, he was unaware of the term “Brave Cave,” he said. “We made a mistake on this one,” Mr Paul told the Washington Post. “I’ve got to own that.” The police chief also addressed other accusations made in Ms Brown’s complaint. The filing claims that the Baton Rouge Police Department’s strip search policy “violates the legal standard” by allowing officers to subject non-arrestees to such searches based on an officer’s suspicion alone. The suit also accuses the department of ignoring misconduct complaints by the street crimes unit. “We’ve been pretty consistent in our discipline,” Mr Paul told the Post, disagreeing with the suit’s claims. “We’ve terminated officers for bad behavior.” To demonstrate this, he noted that two officers who were once involved in the street crimes unit were placed on administrative leave on Tuesday. He added that the department has moved operations — which used to be conducted at the warehouse — to other facilities. The police chief said that before restoring the street crimes unit, he was waiting for the internal investigation to be completed. Ms Brown is suing the Baton Rouge Police Department for unreasonable search, unreasonable seizure, Monell liability, battery, assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, negligence, and state constitutional violations. Read More A Supreme Court redistricting ruling gave hope to Black voters. They're still waiting for new maps Louisiana moves juveniles from adult penitentiary but continues to fight court order to do so Prosecutors set to lay out case against officers in death of unarmed Black man in Denver suburb
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A manhunt is under way to track down a second suspect wanted in connection to a mass shooting that left nine victims – including four children – injured on Memorial Day. The shooting unfolded at about 6.15pm local time near the beach boardwalk in Hollywood, Florida, on Monday as families and friends gathered to enjoy the holiday. Police said that a fight is believed to have broken out between two groups on the seafront, which then escalated into gunfire. At least nine people were injured in the mass shooting, including a one-year-old baby and a 17-year-old. Hollywood Police Department spokesperson Deanna Bettineschi said one victim was in surgery late on Monday while the others were stable. One person has been detained following the incident and a second suspect is now on the run from authorities. He is described as a Black man with dreadlocks who was wearing a black short-sleeve shirt and camo shorts. Chilling video take on the boardwalk shows terrified crowds fleeing the busy boardwalk as the gunfire erupted near a convenience store, a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream store and a Subway sandwich shop. Read More At least nine people wounded in Memorial Day mass shooting at Florida beach Video shows tourists fleeing Miami beach in terror at mass shooting Ron DeSantis news – live: DeSantis facing three new lawsuits as Trump blames him for making Disney ‘woke’
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Trump to appeal E Jean Carroll $5m verdict after being found liable for sexual abuse
Donald Trump is appealing the verdict in the E Jean Carroll case after he was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation. Ms Carroll was awarded $5m earlier this week by the jury in the civil trial in Manhattan. The appeal was filed not long after Judge Lewis Kaplan entered the jury’s verdict in the case, according to CNN. Ms Carroll, an author and magazine journalist, claimed in the trial that Mr Trump raped her in a dressing room at the Berghof Goodman department store in the mid-1990s. Mr Trump has consistently denied the allegation. The Trump legal team filed the notice of appeal in the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday. The notice was filed only hours after Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the civil trial, wrote a ruling in support of the jury’s verdict, ordering the former president to pay the full $5m. The Trump legal team previously indicated that they would appeal the case. Ms Carroll argued that Mr Trump raped her and that he then defamed her when he rejected her claim and said she made up the story to sell books. The jury awarded Ms Carroll about $2m for the civil battery claim in relation to the sexual assault and about $3m for the subsequent defamation. The jury didn’t find Mr Trump liable for rape. While Ms Carroll testified extensively in the trial, Mr Trump didn’t attend. The twice-impeached ex-president mocked Ms Carroll at the CNN town hall that aired just a day after the verdict. The town hall has been criticised as divisive and even being “a volcano of bulls***” by commentators who accused the network of providing Mr Trump with a platform for airing several dubious claims. Mr Trump described Ms Carroll as a “whack job” and called the trial “rigged”. He was asked what he would tell voters who said the verdict disqualifies him from being president. “Well there aren’t too many of them because my poll numbers just came out – they went up,” Mr Trump said to the crowd, which, according to CNN, was composed of Republicans and undecided voters. The former president also called Ms Carroll’s allegations a “made-up story”. “I swear on my children, which I never do, I have no idea who this woman – this is a fake story, a made-up story,” he said. Mocking her, he said he was too famous to hang around department stores. Ms Carroll had told the jury in her testimony that she and Mr Trump had engaged in playful banter after a chance encounter at Bergdorf Goodman one evening in the mid-1990s. But after taking an escalator up to a deserted 6th floor to look for lingerie, Mr Trump led her to a dressing room, pushed her up against a wall and sexually assaulted her, she claimed. “I was very famous then and I owned the Plaza Hotel right next door and I owned the buildings around it – I’m not going into a dressing room of a crowded department store,” he said at the town hall. He also reiterated claims he did not know Ms Carroll at all, and called the trial “rigged.” “She wasn’t raped, OK? … And I didn’t do anything else either, OK, because I don’t know who the hell she is,” he said during the town hall, as the audience was heard laughing. On Thursday, Ms Carroll told The New York Times that she may sue Mr Trump again after his “vile” comments on CNN. Ms Carroll said that the former president’s comments were “just stupid, it’s just disgusting, vile, foul, it wounds people”. Her attorney, Roberta Kaplan, told the paper that “Everything’s on the table, obviously, and we have to give serious consideration to it”. “We have to weigh the various pros and cons and we’ll come to a decision in the next day or so, probably,” she added. Read More Trump town hall – live: Trump to appeal E Jean Carroll verdict as she threatens to sue him again Trump may be sued again by E Jean Carroll after he called sexual abuse claim ‘fake’ at CNN town hall CNN faces backlash over chaotic Trump town hall event
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