An Opelousas Police officer is on administrative leave and facing three criminal charges after an incident at her house that left her boss and his wife wounded.
KATC Investigates has obtained the personnel file of that officer, Savannah Butler. It shows she was hired by OPD days after Chief Graig Leblanc was sworn in.
In the past, Butler had worked for the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office and the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office.
In her application for OPD, Butler states she was terminated by the SLPSO "for false allegation presented by my supervisor for refusing to investigate a case."
We also made a public records request for her personnel file at the sheriff's office but haven't received that response yet.
Butler currently is on administrative leave with pay following the shooting, which happened on December 22 at her home. Five days later, she was placed on leave and told to return her department-issued vehicle and all equipment she had, and to "immediately cease all activity as a commissioned police officer."
Butler began working for the Opelousas Police Department in January 2023, just days after Leblanc was sworn in on January 8.
In her application to the OPD, she states she was fired from the sheriff's office on January 11, the same day she filed the application. The next day, January 12, Leblanc sent a letter to Opelousas Mayor Julius Alsandor requesting a special meeting so he could hire Butler. The meeting was held on January 20, and the only item on the agenda was the hiring of Butler as a probational police officer, effective January 23.
Butler's application indicates she is a graduate of Northside High and the University of Phoenix in Lafayette, that she is POST certified and completed the Lafayette Sheriff's law enforcement training academy program.
Her resume indicates she started at the Lafayette Sheriff's Office shortly after completing that training as an intake clerk and worked at the jail for several years before she finished her eight-year career there as a work crew deputy.
Prior to that she was an auditor at a local hotel for six years.
