BATON ROUGE -- Carl Cavalier filed a complaint on Sept. 30 in East Baton Rouge Parish District Court against the State of Louisiana: Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Public Safety Services and the Office of State Police.
According to the complaint, which was removed to Baton Rouge federal court on Nov. 10, Cavalier began his employment with LSP on November 30, 2014. On May 5, 2018, Cavalier alleges to have experienced racial discrimination from his chain of command, specifically from Major Frank Besson, Sergeant Simon Besson, Lieutenant Andre Bienvenue and Lieutenant Matt Trahan.
After issuing a ticket to a narcotics officer with the Houma Police Department, Cavalier's supervisors began subjecting all tickets and reports to additional scrutiny, he says. On August 11, 2018, Cavalier alleges being targeted and harassed by Sgt. Henry Kimble and forced to write an incident report regarding his presence in New Orleans in his marked unit during the day shift when he was assigned to night shift.
Cavalier alleges that between August 11, 2018, and August 24, 2018, he was contacted by Lieutenant Draper Crain and Lt. Colonel Kendrick Van Buren and advised that he should request a transfer to the Bureau of Investigations. Cavalier met with Major Darrin Naquin regarding possible resolutions to the discrimination on August 24, 2018, then requested his transfer on August, 27, the suit says.
Cavalier submitted information to the Trooper Employee Assistance Program in an attempt to address the racism issues he was experiencing on Oct. 19, 2020, and Nov. 7, 2020, to no avail, the suit says. On June 7, 2021, Cavalier alleges being placed on forced leave pursuant to State Police Commission Rule 11.9 and was deprived of 80 hours of annual leave equal to an amount of $28.39/hr, the suit says.
Cavalier returned to active duty on June 28, 2021. Cavalier then gave television and radio interviews regarding criminal conduct by commissioned personnel of Louisiana State Police throughout June, July and August of 2021. Cavalier received a letter informing him that he would be suspended without pay for 40 hours for violation of the LSP Policy on Secondary Employment and 160 hours for violation of the LSP Policy on Conduct Unbecoming an Officer on August 27, 2021, the suit says. Cavalier alleges his suspension resulted in a loss of income for $5,678.00.
Cavalier seeks all sums as are reasonable under the premises, attorney's fee, litigation expenses and legal interest. Cavalier is representing himself.