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MONROE, La. – A former officer with the Monroe Police Department, Jared Preston Desadier, 44, was sentenced to 78 months in prison, followed by 2 years of supervised release, for his role in the assault of an arrestee in Ouachita Parish and his efforts to cover up that abuse.

“The defendant’s decision to callously abuse an arrestee when he thought he wasn’t being watched is an affront to the principles of honesty and integrity that our society expects from law enforcement,” said Assistant Attorney General Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This sentence makes clear that the Department of Justice will aggressively investigate and prosecute any officer who believes that the Constitution only applies when the cameras are on.”

“All Americans expect law enforcement officers to continuously abide by the law,” stated U.S. Attorney Brandon B. Brown. “The bedrock of officer and citizen engagement is for the officer to, without exception, act professionally with a goal of deescalating tense situations. Here, this defendant instead decided to criminally escalate the situation by unnecessarily battering the victim. Prosecuting offenses such as these not only benefit society, but also law enforcement because bad police officers who cast a black eye on the profession are eradicated from the law enforcement community. This office will continue to prosecute these types of crimes with a goal of increasing the public’s trust in law enforcement.”

According to the defendant’s plea agreement, on April 21, 2020, officers of the Monroe Police Department, including Desadier, conducted a field interview with the victim in this case. When the victim attempted to run away, Desadier chased after him. The victim eventually stopped running, got on his stomach, and put his hands behind his back. Desadier ran towards the victim and then asked his fellow officer whether the officer’s body-worn camera was recording, and when he was mistakenly told that the cameras were off, he continued to run towards victim and kicked him in the face.

Assistant Attorney General Clarke, U.S. Attorney Brown, and Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division made the announcement. The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian C. Flanagan and Trial Attorney Thomas Johnson of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.