TOWN OF WASHINGTON -- The board of aldermen at its meeting tonight voted to forgo an immediate investigation into citizens' complaints about police conduct.
Citizens packed Washington Town Hall tonight with Mary Ann Lavergne saying a March 9 incident in which Lt. Travis Guillot shot and killed a dog was the last straw. The dog was attacking a police dog, Sampson, and would not let go, Guillot said.
Lavergne said Guillot told citizens of the neighborhood known as the "Bottom" that they would be searched if they were found walking down the street at night. She alleged that he and Officer Robert Maw have used excessive force and that the two white officers have used racial profiling.
"If someone breaks the law, yes, you deserve to arrest them, but not use the force that you did. Every time Maw or Guillot comes around, somebody goes to the hospital," Lavergne said.
Chief Ronelle Broussard, who took office last year, defended his officers Monday. The officers have probable cause to search people and only use force when they feel like they're in danger, he said.
"Y'all are disgruntled because this is not the same Washington Police Department that you had before," Broussard said. "Before you start discrediting anyone in my police department, we need to know the law. You need to know how it works."
Mayor Joe Pitre recommended that the aldermen consider bringing in a third party -- the Louisiana State Police or St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office -- to investigate the complaints.
A motion to do that failed when aldermen Wilbert Ledet and Krandall Pijue voted for the investigation, alderman Gary J. Wilson voted against it and alderwoman Mona Wilson abstained.
After the meeting, Mona Wilson said that she abstained because an third-party investigator had not been specified. The issue is not over, she said.