A woman claims in a suit that Ville Platte Police forced her to strip and held her in a closet for two days.
The lawsuit was filed Jan. 8 against the City of Ville Platte was filed in the Western District Court of Louisiana by local attorney Tony Dupre on behalf of Latasha Pleasant.
The plaintiff and her attorney believe that the two United States Constitutional Amendments that have been violated by the defendant in this matter are the fourth and fourteenth.
The fourth amendment prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and requires any search warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause. The 14th amendment defines national citizenship and forbids states from restricting the basic rights of citizens.
The suit states Pleasant was arrested by the Ville Platte Police Department on a warrant in January 2017.
Pleasant alleges that while in the custody of the police, she “was not allowed to shower and/or change into clean uniforms for two days and was put into ‘the hole’ instead of a jail cell.”
Pleasant claims on Jan. 28, 2017, she was “forced into a closet with no bed or toilet,” and “she was forced to remove all of her clothing in front of male officers.”
According to the lawsuit, “the plaintiff requested a female officer be present when she was forced to remove her clothing but was denied.”
The lawsuit states that the “plaintiff repeatedly requested to use the bathroom facilities but was denied of this also,” and that Pleasant “urinated on herself and the floor of the closet.”
The plaintiff also alleges that she remained in the closet from Jan. 28 to Jan. 30, 2017.
Pleasant is suing for “an award of exemplary damages against the defendant in an amount to punish the defendant for its actions and to deter the defendant from engaging in such conduct in the future.”
