NEW ORLEANS — A five-year veteran New Orleans police officer remained in jail Monday after his arrest over the weekend on charges of inappropriate behavior with a teenager.
Tyler Sirois, a patrol officer assigned to the Fifth Police District, is being held without bail after his arrest Saturday on charges of simple battery, malfeasance, false imprisonment and unauthorized entry.
The case emerged after Sirois, 28, handled a routine traffic accident on March 4 involving a 17-year-old driver. What happened next was anything but routine, according to NOPD investigators who initially handled a call of concern from one of the teenager’s high school teachers.
In an affidavit supporting an arrest warrant for Sirois, a detective assigned to the NOPD’s child abuse unit claimed that the officer coerced the teenager to strip to his underwear while the officer inspected his private parts.
The affidavit states that days after the accident, the 17-year-old got a string of calls from an unknown phone number. When he finally answered, it was Sirois, who allegedly asked him, “Where you at? I need to come see you and check you out,” Sgt. Robyn Scott wrote in her report.
Scott wrote that Sirois told the teen and his family that he needed to check for injuries, even though the teen said he was not hurt.
“The victim advised he was fine, he was not injured, however in a high voice the officer insisted they needed to go inside,” Scott wrote. “The victim said he felt weird and felt compelled to follow his instructions because he was police.”
“The victim stated that upon walking into the living room of his residence, the officer instructed him to take off his shorts,” the report continues. “The victim said, ‘I felt forced, uncomfortable and didn’t know what was going to happen if I didn’t do what he said.”
Sgt. Scott wrote that the victim then said Sirois “looked at his legs, then pulled the waistband of his shorts in the front, looked at his penis, said ‘OK,” then pulled the waistband of his shorts in the back, looked at his buttocks and said, ‘OK.’ ”
The victim and his family told investigators that they complied out of fear.
Detectives say they confirmed Sirois did, in fact, visit the family's house despite no official reason for doing so, leading to the arrest warrant. Sirois surrendered on Saturday.
In an emailed statement, the NOPD confirmed that Sirois was arrested and reassigned to desk duty.
“As part of this process, the officer has been placed under close supervision and his policing powers have been suspended,” the NOPD Public Information Office wrote.
Bail was not immediately set in the case because prosecutors invoked “Gwen's Law,” a Louisiana provision that can delay a defendant’s initial court appearance for up to five days as a “cooling off” period. The law is often invoked in cases of domestic violence or stalking.
Sirois is expected to make his first court appearance Tuesday. His attorneys declined to comment, saying they needed time to gather more information about the allegations.
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