NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans Police reports that Third District Sgt. Robert Evangelist was arrested Monday in St. Tammany Parish on two counts of battery of a domestic partner.
An NOPD spokesperson said that Evangelist has been placed on emergency suspension pending the outcome of the criminal case. The NOPD Public Integrity Bureau is investigating the incident.
Evangelist was fired from the New Orleans Police Department in October 2005 after he was captured on camera beating a 64-year-old retired teacher on Bourbon Street.
Evangelist was reinstated after the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in his favor.
His lawyer argued that his actions were justifiable and that he "acted reasonably" since the retired teacher, Robert Davis, was resisting arrest.
According to Davis, he was walking on Bourbon Street and was confused about the post-Katrina curfew hours, so he asked a group of officers for assistance.
Davis said that when they didn't respond, he called them "ignorant, unprofessional and rude."
He said that an officer then ran up behind him, throwing him against a wall and punching him. Davis needed several stitches on his face and suffered a broken nose and face bone from the arrest.
Officers said Davis was arrested for public intoxication, but never charged.
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