BATON ROUGE – A disabled man currently incarcerated at the Dixon Correctional Center alleges a correctional officer used excessive force.
Blane Landry filed a complaint on June 28 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana against Lt. Criswell alleging that the correctional officer violated the Fourth, Eighth and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff is paralyzed from the waist down and is confined to a wheelchair. The plaintiff alleges that on Dec. 6, 2016, Criswell wrote the plaintiff up for a rule violation and ordered him to be restrained. The suit states Criswell pulled the plaintiff out of his wheelchair to the ground and pulled his arm behind his back, dislocating it from his shoulder. The plaintiff alleges his arm was put back in place but he suffers from a torn ligament that needs surgery.
The plaintiff holds Criswell responsible because the defendant allegedly violated the plaintiff's constitutional rights to be free from use of corporal punishment and unnecessary and/or excessive force.
The plaintiff seeks judgment against the defendant with legal interest, litigation expenses, attorney's fees and costs and all further relief that the court may deem just and equitable. 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-00409