30 months for former sheriff’s sergeant in inmate assault in Louisiana jail

Published 2:47 pm Tuesday, September 25, 2018

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Federal authorities say a former sergeant with a Louisiana sheriff’s office has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for beating a jail inmate and ordering a police dog to attack him.

David Prejean pleaded guilty in February to the 2012 assault at the Iberia Parish Jail.

Prejean ordered his dog to bite the inmate. He also struck the inmate several times and wrote a false report to cover up the attack.

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Prejean was a sergeant with the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office at the time. Prosecutors said he was called to the jail to assist with a shakedown.

Documents show that he threw the inmate to the ground after the inmate disobeyed a command — and continued the attack after the inmate was compliant and posed no threat.