BY RICHARD THOMPSON
RTHOMPSON@THEADVOCATE.COM
A 30-year-old St. John the
Baptist Parish resident has accused Sheriff Mike Tregre’s deputies of falsely
arresting him and using excessive force during an incident last year that left him
with nerve damage in his hand, according to a federal civil rights lawsuit
filed Friday in New Orleans.
The lawsuit names Tregre as
well as a half-dozen of his deputies.
It alleges that deputies
checked on Brian Everett on Nov. 16 after he reportedly threatened to harm
himself.
Everett suffers from a host of
medical problems, including cerebral palsy, seizures, bipolar disorder and
schizophrenia, according to the lawsuit.
Two deputies conducting the
check, Graylin Burl and Darlinta Cook, showed up and began swearing at an
intoxicated Everett, the suit contends. The deputies harassed Everett before
arresting him for disturbing the peace, it says.
Before Everett was arrested,
the suit alleges, Burl picked him up over his head and body-slammed him onto
the ground. While he was being arrested, Everett alleges, Burl stomped on his
head and kept his foot on it until he was handcuffed. He was then thrown into
the car while handcuffed, which left him with nerve damage in his hand, the
suit says.
Everett alleges that he was
taunted and harassed on his way to jail and that he was put into a restraint
chair and shocked with an electronic control device.
The suit alleges that jail
personnel did not administer medical care after he was shocked or after he
suffered a series of seizures while in custody.
The suit says the incident left
Everett with “nerve damage to his right hand, numbness in his wrists, seizures
and painful sensations in his outer extremities, and he suffers from severe and
debilitating depression and anxiety.”
The lawsuit seeks compensatory
and punitive damages. The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Martin
Feldman.
When reached by phone Friday,
Tregre said he was “familiar” with Everett but had not seen the suit. He
declined further comment and said he would let the lawsuit “take its course.”
Adding a wrinkle to the story,
Everett is being represented by Tregg Wilson, a lawyer who was Tregre’s chief
deputy until last year.
Wilson filed a federal
whistle-blower lawsuit against Tregre last August, alleging that Tregre’s
interrogation rooms were rigged with hidden cameras. Tregre, who took office in
July 2012, said the equipment was installed by his predecessor and that he was
unaware it was there until shortly before Wilson filed his suit.
Tregre has said the systems
have been removed. The trial on Wilson’s lawsuit, which is being overseen by
U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, is set for September.
Wilson contended in his lawsuit
that he was fired as retaliation for speaking out about the cameras.
A subsequent State Police
investigation concluded the cameras did not necessarily violate state law,
though investigators said they could well have been used improperly.
Asked whether he thought it was
a coincidence that Everett is represented by Wilson, Tregre said, “I’m not
surprised,” but he declined further comment.