IPSO investigates charges

The internal affairs division of the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office is investigating several complaints of police brutality that allegedly occurred Friday night on Main Street during the Sugar Cane Festival and Fair’s Fais-do-do.

“We have received complaints and we’ve turned it over to internal affairs,” Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal said Tuesday night. 

It was not immediately clear how many arrests were made Friday, and further details of the alleged arrests requested of the Sheriff’s Office were not made available by press time.

Timothy “T.J.” Dronet said he was arrested Friday night after a brief altercation with a deputy in Bouligny Plaza. Dronet said he was thrown to the ground before being detained in a van for several hours. 

He also said his Miranda rights were not read to him at any point during the arrest and he still doesn’t know what he’s been charged with.

Dronet added, however, there were at least two arrests that occurred Friday to people “who deserved it” because they were “belligerently assaulting officers.”

Ricky Theriot, co-owner of Theriot’s Photography & Photo, said he witnessed Dronet’s arrest Friday and began asking the deputies several questions about the confrontation when he was told “to shut up.” He said he persisted in his inquiries and eventually was arrested himself.

“They went on the offensive instead of talking to me like a civil person,” Theriot said. “If you can’t talk to a police officer, who can you talk to?”

David Fritz said he was bumped by a deputy patrolling the street on a bicycle Friday night and arrested after a brief confrontation.

“I was arrested for nothing,” Fritz said. “I can understand when you’re acting up, but I was just crossing the street.”

Fritz, who said he filed an official complaint Tuesday, said at least four deputies were involved in the arrest, and he spent several hours in a van with about six other detainees. Fritz said Ackal has “thrown away my ticket and told me not to worry about it.”

Ackal hung up during a telephone call Tuesday night before an attempt to confirm that claim was made.

Rolling Segura also was arrested Friday night and, according to police reports, was charged with public intimidation, resisting an officer, disturbing the peace by appearing intoxicated, disturbing the peace by loud profane language and entry on or remaining in places or on land after being forbidden.

Fritz and Theriot claim Segura was injured badly enough during his arrest that he required medical treatment at a local hospital. The Sheriff’s Office could not confirm this account by press time, but the report provided stated Segura was only booked at 7:32 a.m. Saturday morning, while the incident is alleged to have  occurred Friday evening.

Segura declined to be interviewed because his charges have not yet been dropped, but his wife confirmed that he had been taken to the hospital, though not that he was treated for any injuries.

Theriot accused one deputy of instigating the incident Friday. He said the same deputy taunted him downtown on Saturday night. “I arrested you last night, you want to try for round two?” Theriot recalled the deputy saying to him in front of Bourbon Hall.

The Sheriff’s Office had not provided arrest reports for Fritz, Dronet and Theriot or confirmed that they took place by press time. The Sheriff’s Office offered no other comment as of press time.

Further details of the investigation were not immediately available.