News / Human Rights

Video: Guard and his dog attacking Louisiana inmate 'for no reason'

Friday, 01 May 2015 7:01 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 01 May 2015 7:07 AM ]

This photo captured from video footage shows inmate Marcus Robicheaux being abused by prison guards at the Iberia Parish Jail.

Surveillance footage has emerged showing the shocking and unprovoked abuse of an African-American inmate by prison guards in the US state of Louisiana.

The video, obtained by The New Orleans Advocate and released on Thursday, shows Iberia Parish Jail inmate Marcus Robicheaux standing with his hands on his head and his nose pressed against the wall while guards conduct a sweep for contraband.

The inmate appears to be looking forward when a sheriff's deputy grabs him from behind and slams him to the ground. The deputy’s dog then attacks the inmate, biting his legs, arms and torso, while the deputy himself stomps and kicks Robicheaux.

The incident took place on December 6, 2012 and was captured on video from the jail’s surveillance cameras.

Robicheaux said he does not understand why he was treated like that.

“He grabbed me and slammed me down on the ground,” Robicheaux said in an interview with The Advocate. “He picked me out. Why? I don’t know. I still ask myself that to this day.”

“I couldn’t do nothing [sic] but scream,” he recalled. “The inmates couldn’t do nothing [sic] to help me.”

The deputy in the video, David Prejean, filed a report on the incident shortly after it happened, but his written statement contradicts what was captured by the cameras.

Prejean was fired in January more than two years after the incident occurred, according to jail authorities.

The video was released as tensions simmer across the United States over police brutality and discrimination against African Americans, triggered by the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died of severe spinal injuries while in police custody on April 19 in Baltimore, Maryland.

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