A Baton Rouge police officer has been put on paid administrative leave while he is the subject of an ongoing investigation by a grand jury, a police department spokesperson said Friday.
The officer, Martele Jackson, was the whistleblower in a 2020 incident that led to the arrests of four police officers last year, Jackson's attorney, Ron Haley, said Friday.
"Officer Jackson was placed on administrative leave after he was served notice that he is the target of a grand jury investigation for possible criminal conduct," BRPD spokesperson Lt. L'Jean McKneely said.
McKneely said Jackson will remain on administrative leave pending the result of a criminal investigation being conducted by the District Attorney's Office and its independent prosecutor.
Haley said his client has yet to be arrested, and evidence will show he is innocent of any wrongdoing.
The four officers arrested last year were members of the now-disbanded Street Crimes Unit, who used a stun gun on someone in custody, then attempted to dispose of the video evidence, former Police Chief Murphy Paul said at the time.
Those four officers were Troy Lawrence Sr., a BRPD deputy chief; Jesse Barcelona; Todd Thomas and Douglas Chutz.
In the September 2020 incident that led to their arrests, officers attempting to do a strip-search of a man inside a bathroom at the department's First District Precinct on Plank Road used a Taser in an attempt to make the suspect comply, Paul said during a Sept. 29 news conference.
The use of the Taser activated an officer's body camera, which was later hidden and never returned, the arrest warrant for the officers said.
The accused officers later conspired to write a letter, falsely claiming the body camera was missing or lost.
Investigators also learned that the officers punched the man being searched at the precinct, the arrest warrant said.
The Street Crimes Unit was disbanded in August 2023 by Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome, who also shut down a narcotics interrogation center in an unmarked warehouse facility.
Haley said he does not believe Jackson's placement on administrative leave is retribution, and as evidence continues to come forward his innocence will be proven. He also said Jackson has yet to speak with District Attorney Hillar Moore's office for any investigation.
"Do I think he needs to be prosecuted for what happened? Absolutely not," Haley said. "He was trying to do the right thing."
The attorney said Jackson has never been put on leave before, calling his record as an officer exemplary. He added that how prosecutors handle the recent developments could impact police speaking up in the future.
"We don't want to make it uncomfortable for a police officer to speak up when they see something that's wrong," Haley said. "Mr. Jackson has had some interpersonal consequences for speaking up … but up to this point, he's never been arrested, and I don't anticipate him being arrested for anything."