Latest Weather Blog
Officers under investigation after allegedly holding 14-year-old down as mother slaps him with belt
Related Story
BATON ROUGE - A pair of Baton Rouge police officers are being investigated after a 2019 video showed them holding a teenager while his mother could whip him with a belt.
The officers are seen on their body cameras, offering to hold down a 14-year-old boy so his mother could discipline him. They mocked him while his mother whipped him and asked him over and over if he was going to tell officers what he knew about the shooting.
Attorney Ryan Thompson, who is representing the teen in unrelated legal matters, filed the internal affairs complaint Nov. 18 after learning about the video.
"We've seen this before, where individuals are taken to a warehouse and they're interrogated, beaten and tased all in the name of providing information. It's the same for this individual. He's the victim. Why are we holding individuals and encouraging individuals to be beaten?" Thompson said.
Thompson identified the two officers as Adam Rhodes and Jermaine Javius.
The video shows Rhodes confronting the boy about information on a drive-by shooting in which bullets hit the teen's house. You can see the boy wave off the officer and chuckle. That's when Officer Rhodes becomes agitated with him.
"I'm not your momma, laugh all you f**king want to," Rhodes said.
“That’s crazy,” the teen says.
“No, what’s crazy is your level of cowardice,” Rhodes responds.
In a prepared statement, Baton Rouge Police Chief T.J. Morse said, "The mother requested officers assist her to discipline her son. Officers did comply with her request and held the 14-year-old male down on a bed while the mother hit him on his rear with a belt."
"If this is called assisting in disciplining a child I would say that, if this was my child, I wouldn't want their help, anyone watching this would not want the Baton Rouge police's help," Thompson said.
Thompson says the officers pressured the mom into administering the beating.
"You got a belt? Undo your belt. Let's go in the house. I promise I'll hold his arm while you tear that a** up. I ain't kidding at all. Below the waist, don't break the skin -- that's what the law says," said Rhodes to the teen's mother.
Both officers can be seen holding the boy down while his mother is hitting him around 40 times until she stops because her arm hurts.
"In no situation do courts authorize officers to hold a 14-year-old child down - a victim - in the name of getting information," Thompson said. "What is a police officer's job, and I guarantee you, that post does not teach them to assist in disciplining children, so this notion that officers were in the right, I would totally disagree with it, and I would add that I'm sure, in fact, I know it is not within policy."
Thompson has sued the department in several unrelated use-of-forces lawsuits, including the 'Brave Cave'.
"There needs to be attention. There needs to be something done in the treatment of our juveniles and our elderly," Thompson said.
Thompson says Chief Morse was the training officer at the police academy at the time of the incident.
Javius was the president of his 2019 academy class.
News
