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Civil Rights

Former police chief gets time, another takes plea for using stun gun on compliant inmates

A former small-town Louisiana police chief was sentenced Tuesday to a year and a day in jail after pleading guilty earlier this year to a federal civil rights violation involving excessive use of force on inmates.

Meanwhile, another man who replaced Gregory Dupuis, 57, as chief of police in Mamou took a plea on Tuesday to deprivation of rights under color of law in the Western District of Louisiana case.

Both Dupuis and Robert McGee, 44, were accused by the feds in a series of incidents in which Mamou jail inmates were allegedly shocked with electronic stun guns for disruptive behavior even if they did not pose a physical threat or were calm and collected at the time of the punishment, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release. McGee, who subsequently became chief of the Mamou department, was still a police officer there at the time of the crimes.

“The defendants abused the trust given to them as law enforcement officers when they engaged in a pattern of repeatedly tasing compliant detainees,” said Vanita Gupta, who heads the DOJ’s civil rights division, in the release. “The Justice Department will vigorously prosecute those who violate the civil rights laws to ensure that the rights of all individuals, including those in custody, are protected.”

Gupta serves in the division as a principal deputy assistant attorney general.

Hat tip: Reuters