UPDATE off duty NOPD send man to hospital - officers arrested

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The New Orleans Police Department arrested two of its own officers Tuesday (July 24) and started "termination proceedings" after the agency says the officers fought with someone outside a Mid-City bar, sending that man to the hospital.

The officers were off duty at the time of the altercation. The injured man, who police said had "severe" injuries, has since been released from the hospital, NOPD said Tuesday evening.

John Galman and Spencer Sutton were each charged with simple battery after NOPD's public integrity bureau launched an internal investigation. The battery occurred early Tuesday in the 400 block of St. Patrick Street, NOPD said in a news release.

Internal investigators who reviewed video and took eyewitness statements found "sufficient evidence," the NOPD statement says, "that Galman and Sutton were the aggressors in the assault."

Galman and Sutton graduated from NOPD's training academy in December, the release states. Like the rest of their class, they remain on probationary employment status, meaning they are not entitled to full civil service protections.

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New Orleans police are investigating two officers who are suspected of sending a man to the hospital after a fight early Tuesday in Mid-City while they were off duty.

Law enforcement sources told WWL-TV and The New Orleans Advocate that the officers were defending themselves after a disagreement between them and a patron at Mid-City Yacht Club ended with the man trying to attack them around the corner from the bar as they walked home.

Splatters of blood remained in the street at the corner by late morning. New Orleans EMS said they took the man, whose name was not released, to University Medical Center for treatment. The man, who spoke Spanish and communicated through a paramedic who could translate, was in stable condition, EMS spokeswoman Liz Belcher said.

Sources said the fight was spurred by an argument between the officers and the men. That disagreement began inside the bar, located at Baudin and South St. Patrick Street.

The unidentified civilian wore “military garb,” according to sources, which led one of the officers to question his military record. That officer, the sources said, is a veteran.

What happened next remained murky Tuesday morning, but the sources said the officers eventually left the bar, only to find the man following them in his car.

He got out of his car, the sources said, and threatened the officers, who said they attacked him in self-defense. One source said the man was brandishing a large walking stick.

The officers then called police, who responded to the scene. A detective was seen at the bar Tuesday morning..

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