A football player at Louisiana State University said he was “violated numerous times” by police officers last Saturday night, prompting the Baton Rouge Police Department to place three officers involved in the incident on paid leave as it investigates the allegations.
In a statement posted on Twitter on Sunday, Koy Moore, a wide receiver at the school in Baton Rouge, La., said that officers accused him of having a weapon and drugs, leading them to take out their guns and go “as far as trying to unzip my pants in search of a weapon that I repeatedly told them I did not have.”
He added that his phone was confiscated as he attempted to film the incident, which occurred on the same day the Democratic ticket of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Senator Kamala Harris of California was projected to win the 2020 presidential election. “Yesterday wasn’t a victory for America, it was only a distraction,” Moore said.
Just read this please we need a change!!! pic.twitter.com/EyiK0Rmx1r
Moore did not respond to a request for further comment.
Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul said in a statement on Monday that the department was conducting “a thorough investigation into this complaint.” Three officers were placed on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation, according to the statement.
“As in every case, we will be collecting all available evidence and conducting interviews,” Paul said.
“I have been in contact with Chief Paul, who has assured me his department is thoroughly investigating this matter and he has been in touch with the student,” Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome of Baton Rouge wrote in a statement. Her office declined to offer further comment.
Louisiana State Coach Ed Orgeron said during his weekly news conference on Monday that he had spoken to Moore and Moore’s mother and brother, and that university and local officials were looking into the matter. He declined to further comment about the ongoing investigation, referring to a statement he released on Sunday.
“We must work collectively to embrace our differences,” Orgeron said on Twitter on Sunday. “We have to listen, learn and come together to combat social injustice and racism if we are to create a safer and more equitable society for all people.”
The Tigers are still expected to play top-ranked University of Alabama this weekend despite having several starting players in isolation after testing positive for the coronavirus last week, Orgeron said. He declined to specify who or how many players had tested positive, saying that the situation was “fluid.”
Moore, a freshman, has eight receptions for 70 yards so far this season.
“If I didn’t tell those incompetent officers I was an L.S.U. football player, there’s no telling if I would’ve been here to tell the story,” Moore wrote on Twitter.
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