SHREVEPORT - The City of Shreveport is one of many defendants named in a lawsuit alleging excessive force and other charges.
According to documents filed on March 16 in federal court, three plaintiffs filed suit on behalf of their deceased father, Tommie Dale McGlothen Jr., who was allegedly in a confrontation with officers from the Shreveport Police Department on April 5, 2020, while he was suffering a mental health crisis.
The lawsuit says that, despite the decedent not being armed or dangerous, the four officers are seen on video violently beating and hitting him, then leaving him in the back of a patrol car for almost an hour unattended.
Dash cam video shows that McGlothen was in respiratory distress, progressing from shortness of breath to loss of consciousness to cardiac arrest and death in the time that he was abandoned in the police vehicle, the suit says.
The entire list of defendants includes the American Alternative Insurance Corporation, the City of Shreveport, Shreveport Police Chief Ben Raymond, officer Treona A. McCarter, officer Brian M. Ross, officer D'Marea J. Johnson and officer James M. LeClare.
The defendants are charged with: excessive force, violation of due process, cruel and unusual punishment, Monell violations, negligent training/supervision/retention, failure to intervene, negligence, wrongful death, violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and supervisory liability.
McGlothen's family members that are plaintiffs in the case are daughter Tamara Jones, son Tommie Dale McGlothen III and son Avery Jones.
The plaintiffs are represented by the Cochran Firm of Metairie.