BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — New allegations about the Baton Rouge Police Department’s “Brave Cave” have surfaced.
BRPD officers are accused of using the warehouse as a location for unlawful interrogations and beatings.
“What we need is strategic policing,” said Gary Chambers, a civil rights activist.
Activists like Chambers said policing in Baton Rouge must change after more allegations have come to light in the Brave Cave investigation.
“What we need is policing that is building authentic relationships within our community,” Chambers said.
Attorneys Ryan Thompson and Thomas Frampton said their client was assaulted by BRPD Officer Troy Lawrence Jr. and other Baton Rouge Police officers on June 10.
Both attorneys said their client was pulled over and Lawrence searched her car. They said a legally concealed weapon and prescription drugs were found. Thompson said Lawerence incorrectly told their client “that it is illegal to have certain prescriptions with other prescriptions in a bottle.”
Thompson said the victim agreed to show lawful proof of her prescription medication, but Lawrence had this response: “We’ll let the courts figure it out. We’ll let the judge figure it out, to be exact,” Thompson said.
According to Thompson, his client was arrested and taken to the Brave Cave, a place police used for interrogations.
Thompson said his client was stripped and given a body cavity search.
“It is a sexual assault, and that has been custom, that has been informal policy, and that has been written policy of the Baton Rouge Police Department for years,” said Frampton.
BRPD Chief Murphy Paul and Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome said they are taking these allegations seriously.
“We’re going to continue that type of accountability. I get it, I understand people are upset. I understand there’s a lot of concern out there,” said Paul.
“We worked tirelessly to close the gap between our citizens and the police department to build and create a level of trust quite frankly was not there in the past,” said Broome.
