Former Louisiana Police Officer Indicted for Assaulting an Arrestee and Attempting to Cover It Up | OPA

A federal grand jury in Shreveport, Louisiana, returned an indictment charging Jared Desadier, 43, with assaulting an arrestee in Ouachita Parish. The two-count indictment charges Desadier with willfully depriving an individual of his right to be free from unreasonable seizure and with witness tampering.

The indictment alleges that, on April 21, 2020, Desadier, while acting in his official capacity as an officer of the Monroe Police Department, used unjustified force against an arrestee by kicking him in the area of his face and head, and that the assault caused bodily injury and involved the use of a dangerous weapon (a shod foot). The indictment further alleges that Desadier attempted to cover up his misconduct by engaging in misleading conduct towards his supervisors. Specifically, the indictment alleges that after the arrestee complained in the presence of supervising officers that he had been assaulted, Desadier claimed that he had not touched or harmed the arrestee and blamed the arrestee’s injuries on a fall. 

If convicted, Desadier faces a maximum sentence of 10 years of imprisonment for the deprivation-of-rights offense and 20 years of imprisonment for the witness tampering offense.

Wednesday’s indictment was announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook for the Western District of Louisiana, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and  Special Agent in Charge Douglas Williams FBI New Orleans. 

The case is being investigated by the FBI’s New Orleans Field Office. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Flanagan of the Western District of Louisiana and Trial Attorney Thomas Johnson of the Civil Rights Division.

An indictment is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.