A recent video shows former Lafayette Police officer Pablo Estrada and Dennis Lazard inside the jail after Lazard’s arrest in November.
Now, Lazard is saying he endured police brutality from the moment the cops knocked on a hotel room door to arrest him to when he left the jail.
He says he and his girlfriend decided to celebrate Thanksgiving last year and have a few drinks together. Those drinks led to an altercation and her making a 911 call, Lazard says.
Cops showed up at the Plantation Inn motel on Evangeline Thruway. Lazard says from the get-go, the cops were aggressive. He was arrested on domestic violence and resisting arrest charges.
“When they came and they started asking me what happened, and I start telling them, he told me to put my hands behind my back,” said Lazard. “I put my hands behind my back and next thing you know they pin me to the ground...dragging me to the cop car.”
Lazard says they pulled him from his dreads.
“There was another cop on the other side, like the passenger side, he was twisting my leg like he was trying to break it, telling me he was going to break it,” said Lazard about the moments when he was already in the cop car.
He was brought to the Lafayette jail, where he says he was in pain from the rough arrest.
Then, Lazard says, Estrada told Lazard to sit on the bench, to which he replies, “Y’all n----- just beat the s--- out of me...”
The officer said, “Yeah, because you weren’t listening," according to Lazard.
After seeing what happened to Lazard, the woman who called the cops, Edolia Washington, says she wishes things had gone differently.
Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office says they did not press charges on former officer Estrada. They reviewed the information and sent the case back to LPD.
Estrada was notified of his termination on February 22; he stayed employed by the department since the incident in late November.
We have reached out to Estrada and his attorney and have not heard back from either.
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, please contact Faith House of Acadiana by calling their 24/7 confidential hotline at 1-888-411-1333 or by visiting their website at www.FaithHouseAcadiana.com.
RELATED STORY: LPD officer plans to challenge termination
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