Chief: State police clear Thibodaux cops in alleged beating

(AP) State Police have cleared five Thibodaux police officers accused of beating a 16-year-old during an arrest and using a shock gun against his older brother without need, the city’s police chief says.

Chief Craig Melancon said investigators based the decision on the fact that the officers’ statements all matched up and on data from their Tasers.

Jordan Dunbar had said Officers Calvin Cooks, Rodney Rhodes, Treverse Johnson, Chris Bourg and Scott Walters kicked and punched him, and used the shock gun on his 26-year-old brother, Chad Scott, without need on June 28.

The 13-page State Police report says Scott fought trying to arrest him on a warrant for contempt of court, warranting the use of nonlethal force.

The Lafourche Parish District Attorney’s Office received the report Thursday, while the police chief was on vacation. Melancon said he first read the report when he returned to work Monday.

Both Melancon and State Police say they believe the officers told the truth when they said they did not abuse Dunbar, a student at Thibodaux High School.

The officers had credibility and the brothers did not, the report states.

“I am pleased with the investigation,” Melancon said. “It’s been my contention all along that the officers acted within the scope of their authority.”

The report found discrepancies in Scott’s account, including the number of times he said police shocked him and the specific officers who used the Taser.

Scott said two white officers, Bourg and Walters, shocked him in the legs in his bedroom. He also said each officer shocked him once. Dunbar told State Police that Johnson shocked his brother after tackling him.

Johnson wasn’t carrying a Taser, according to the report. It said Rhodes, Cooks and Walters each used his Taser once.

Scott still faces several charges, including driving without a license or license plate, resisting arrest, possessing marijuana and possessing crack cocaine with intent to distribute it. He also faces five counts of resisting arrest on June 18.

Dunbar faces two juvenile counts of resisting arrest.

Given the discrepancies State Police found, the brothers also may face a misdemeanor charge of falsifying a police report, Melancon said.