BATON ROUGE – A Zachary man claims an East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office deputy had no probable cause or reasonable basis to stop, arrest or seize him.
Sidney Arnold filed a complaint on June 1 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana against Deputy Steven Williams alleging violation of the Fourth, Fifth and 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that in March, he was residing with his brother in an apartment in Baker and was doing renovations for an individual. The suit states that Williams knocked on Arnold's apartment door in the middle of the night on March 8 to question him about a door that was open and arrested him. All charges were dropped, the suit states.
The plaintiff holds Williams responsible because the defendant allegedly initiated a seizure and made an arrest based on lack of probable cause, falsely arrested and imprisoned him, and initiated malicious prosecution.
The plaintiff seeks compensatory damages with legal interest, costs of the action and all other relief that the court may deem just, equitable or proper. He is represented by Donna U. Grodner of Grodner & Associates in Baton Rouge.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana Case number 3:17-cv-00344