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Former Louisiana Police Chief Gets Year In Prison For Tasering Inmate

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Casey Harper Contributor
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A former Louisiana police chief was sentenced Thursday to a year and a day in prison for using a Taser on an inmate.

In August of 2010, Robert McGee, 44, dealt with a jailed inmate who was being “verbally, but not physically, disruptive,” according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). McGee opened the cell door and tasered the inmate to apparently silence him.

“After the cell door was opened, McGee pointed his Taser at the inmate and discharged his Taser into the inmate’s chest and abdomen area, even though the inmate was compliant and made no aggressive moves toward the officers or any other person,” the DOJ said in a statement. “The five-second electric shock caused the inmate to fall against the wall of the cell and experience physical pain.”

McGee pleaded guilty to one count of violating an individual’s civil rights in October 2015.

“I understand that the action I took back then I’m 100 percent responsible for,” McGee said. “If I could take it back, I would.”

A video of the incident was a key piece of evidence against McGee, who reportedly had a history of tasering inmates who were not posing a real threat.

McGee is not the first officer from the Mamou, La. police department to receive a prison sentence after tasering an inmate. Former police chief Gregory Dupuis pleaded guilty to a separate but similar Taser charge and received the same sentence as McGeee in October 2015. The Dupuis incident sparked an investigation that drew attention to McGee’s unlawful tasering.

“He acknowledges and regrets the fact that he discharged his TASER when he didn’t need to,” McGee’s attorney Gerald Block said. “He’s lost his job, his profession of police officer. He’s lost the respect of the community. He’s unemployed.”

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