Steven Albritton
The Eunice Police
Department is reviewing an old arrest after thousands of views on YouTube.
Dashcam video shot back in February shows three officers making an arrest after
a traffic stop. The suspect in the video is Archillus Hebert and family members
are saying those officers crossed the line.
"I was sick. It made
me sick to the stomach to see that they actually did that to him," Mary
Hebert said. She is the mother of Archillus and first saw the video Wednesday
morning. In fact, the whole family got word of it around the same time.
"I woke up and
actually returned one of the phone calls, and they were like, did you check
Facebook? Did you check on Youtube? Your brothers video is on there and you
need to see it," Archillus Hebert's sister Omesha Williams said.
The video shows Eunice
Police using force to bring Hebert to the ground. Police say he was swerving
before being pulled over and smelled of alcohol. They also say he was taken to
the ground because he appeared to put something in his mouth. Later in the
video, it shows one officer placing his hands on Hebert after he was handcuffed.
"He told us a little
bit of what happened, but we never thought it was this bad. It's just sad to
say that you know that the people we're supposed to call on for help is the
ones that's actually committing the crimes," Williams said.
Hebert pleaded guilty in
May to all charges from the incident, including resisting arrest. The family
hopes this video will start a movement for change within the department.
"Something got to come
from this. We're not going to just let it die out from this. We're going to do
whatever we have to do to make sure justice is served," Mary Hebert said.
Archillus Hebert is
currently in the Pine Prairie Jail. He's facing several drug related charges as
well as resisting an officer and simple escape from an incident in September.
Eunice Police Chief Ronald
Dies says he will be contacting the FBI to investigate the use of force in the
video. He will also be contacting State Police to investigate how the dash cam
video became public. Chief Dies says he will be transparent with the investigation
and if someone is found in the wrong, they will be held accountable for their
actions.