Three Eunice officers cleared of beating allegations, chief says

Friday, April 22, 2005 at 03:30PM
TheSpook

An FBI investigation has cleared three Eunice police officers of claims that they beat a jail inmate in October 2003, police chief Gary Fontenot. Fontenot said he received word Monday that investigators found no evidence to support the allegations brought by Donald Ray Leday, 49. Police records show that Leday was booked with disturbing the peace through intoxication, resisting an officer, battery on an officer and vehicular trespassing. He was held overnight and bonded out the next day. Fontenot said in 2003 that the officers suggested that Leday fell while drunk, injuring himself. George Fisher, president of BlackMan 7, has charged that three officers severely beat Donald Ray Leday.  In October 2003 Fisher met with Eunice Police Chief Gary Fontenot to demand that the officers involved be suspended and that an independent investigation by the Louisiana State Police be conducted.  In an interview before the meeting, Fontenot said he had already called for state police to investigate on his own.  "I don't need to be ordered to do my job by a radical group," Fontenot sai [more] and
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Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).