The BRPD Police Brutality Trial Started Yesterday

This shithead cop, otherwise known as Robert Moruzzi, is accused of beating the shite out of a man several years ago.

Basically all we know so far is that Chief Dabadie is a moron, and Moruzzi has a shitty history with the law and has no business being in any position he is in now.

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Though a judge signed the warrant justifying officers’ search of the house in what Percle argues was a “low-level” drug case — a characterization defendants contest — Percle says officers illegally searched his car and forced him and others to take off their clothes so their genitals could be probed.

Dabadie, the police chief, testified he didn’t know and couldn’t paraphrase the department’s policy on strip searches, but said certain types of searches may be reasonable “given the totality of circumstances.”

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quote:

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Percle, 24, says that after the raid, he was told by Baton Rouge police officials to contact an internal affairs manager, Cpl. Orscini Beard II. But after calling Beard several times and leaving messages, he never got a response, he alleges. As a result, no internal complaint file exists against Moruzzi in the case, and no internal investigation was done.

Dabadie acknowledged on the stand that in order for a formal complaint to be lodged, complaints must typically be made in person. However, if a complainant isn’t given those instructions, it’s unlikely he or she would know how to properly file a complaint, he conceded.

In a perplexing trial moment, Dabadie testified he found out about the case against Moruzzi and himself only on Sunday when he was told about it by Knightshead, despite being a named defendant in the matter, which was filed in 2014 and has been publicized in the news media. Dabadie, in an interview after the proceedings ended, said he and the department are sued frequently and he doesn’t keep track of all the allegations against his officers.

Dabadie, who has been chief for three years, also testified he’s never glanced at Moruzzi’s personnel file, even though the corporal had been fired by a different chief the year after Moruzzi was hired in 2008 following an off-duty fight outside the downtown bar Roux House.

In that incident, Moruzzi was accused of pulling down a sign outside the bar and yelling at the bar’s manager, “You can’t stop me!”

Moruzzi, whose handgun emerged during the fight, was accused of punching the manager several times in the face and threatening to kill him, according to 2014 article in The Advocate. Moruzzi ultimately had battery and assault counts against him dismissed after participating in a pretrial diversion program, and he appealed his firing to the civil service board and won his spot back as an officer in 2010.

About six months ago, Moruzzi was elected by his fellow officers to the same board that allowed him a second chance at his job, said Baton Rouge police spokesman Cpl. L’Jean McKneely. Dabadie said he has no say in appointments to the civil service board.

Moruzzi was a part-time member of the SRT team during the event involving Percle, but just a month later, on July 24, 2014, Dabadie promoted Moruzzi to a full-time SRT member.

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What a wonderful police department we have cruising around this shithole.