Louisiana police officer placed on leave after video shows aggressive arrest of black teenager

Shortly after Jabari was cuffed, Gerard was filmed approaching the officers. It is unclear what happened next, but an officer pushed Gerard to the ground and began hitting him as other officers attempted to handcuff him. Neither of the twins was armed, according to Haley.

Jabari was released without charges later that night, and Gerard was charged with several counts, including interference, resisting arrest, and battery of a police officer.

Interim police Chief Scott Morgan announced an immediate investigation of the incident on Sunday morning. He also said that one of the officers was placed on administrative leave and two of the other officers had been pulled from regular duty. The police did not release the names of the officers involved or the names of the teenagers, who were later identified by Haley.

Police spokesman Sgt. Wayne Griffin said that the videos of the incident do not show what happened before the altercation turned physical. He said more information would be available after the department’s investigation.

“I believe it turned physical because he may have approached the officers and got into their personal space,” Griffin said. “Then, it turned physical. I’m not going to go into details of who swung first or anything like that. I just know that it turned physical.”

The arrest added to the tension that already exists between black residents of Lafayette and the police department following the Aug. 24 police shooting of Trayford Pellerin, a 31-year-old black man. Pellerin was armed with a knife when the shooting occurred, according to police.

Jamal Taylor, an activist, called for the officers involved in the arrest of the twins to be charged.

“All three of those officers need to be charged,” Taylor told the Acadiana Advocate. “And the chief needs to resign. The chief is the problem. We have multiple incidents that have gone to national attention in less than three weeks and not because we’re doing something positive.”

The incident has garnered national attention over the past week. Ben Crump, an attorney representing the families of Jacob Blake, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, identified one of the officers as Jeromy Sanford. He said the arrest was “unacceptable.”

“Ofc. Jeromy Sanford is a school resource officer but treats kids like this?! Lafayette LA police dept. has a long history of excessive force toward Black people, including fatally shooting Trey Pellerin and now THIS. Unacceptable!!” Crump tweeted.