BRPD chief calls news conference about strip search incidents

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul will hold a news conference Friday, May 28 beginning at 2:30 p.m. to discuss the case of two young men who were essentially strip-searched on a public street.

It will be the chief’s first public comment about the incident that happened almost 17 months ago.

WAFB will air the news conference live on WAFB-TV, on our website and on the WAFB Facebook page.

RELATED: Body camera video shows BRPD officer strip search teen during traffic stop

In body camera video obtained by the 9News Investigators, a Baton Rouge police officer can be seen strip-searching a 16-year-old and his older brother during a January 2020 traffic stop in broad daylight.

Officers say they found drugs on the younger suspect and a gun in the waistband of the older suspect.

The video shows an officer pull back underwear to expose the genitals of the 16-year-old and his 23-year-old brother, Clarence Green. As Green tells the officer he’s not allowed to do that to him, the officer is heard saying, “I can.”

Baton Rouge police officers say they were looking for drugs on New Year’s Day in 2020 when they stopped the two men.

An attorney for the Green family told WAFB’s Scottie Hunter the officers stopped the young men in front of what the officers identified as a “known drug house” in initial incident reports.

Officers then showed up at Green’s home to take the teen to his mother. The attorney identified one of the officers as Sgt. Ken Camallo. The attorney said Camallo and other officers entered the home with guns drawn and without a warrant. The attorney said the mics on the body cameras were muted.

Outside, the video shows officers try to convince the mother to get a DNA swab from the teen. As Green tells his mother to call an attorney, officers pick a fight.

“If you don’t shut the f---k up, I’m going to come in and I’m going to f----k you up,” one officer can be heard yelling at Green.

“I’m talking to my mama,” Green responded.

“No, you’re causing a disturbance. You think I’m playing with you? I will f—k you up,” the officer said.

Green was locked up for a gun officers found during the search. He sat behind bars for several months until the charges were dropped. Legal expert Thomas Frampton represents the family. He calls just about everything the officers did during the traffic stop, “troubling.”

“In the course of about 90 minutes, these officers commit at least a half-dozen criminal offenses themselves,” said Frampton.

Frampton was able to fight for the family in court by filing a federal lawsuit against the city, the Baton Rouge Police Department, and the officers involved. That case was dismissed last week after the city paid the family a $35,000 settlement.

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