A New Orleans resident has filed a lawsuit against the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, alleging that a group of deputies “unnecessarily and unlawfully” approached, detained and beat him up outside of a gas station in Terrytown last year.
A lawyer filed the federal suit on behalf of Bobby Rankin on March 31. According to the filing, a deputy approached Rankin in the gas station’s parking lot and yelled at him before grabbing and slamming him to the ground, at which point five other deputies joined in to kick and punch Rankin.
Rankin was eventually handcuffed and taken to the hospital, then arrested and detained by JPSO, which charged him with resisting arrest and simple assault, among other allegations. But the district attorney’s office later declined to prosecute the case and dismissed the charges, according to the suit…