A new federal complaint accuses multiple Baton Rouge police officers of taking a family to a black site called the BRAVE Cave, where one cop sexually battered an 11-year-old boy and unlawfully strip-searched his mother.
This lawsuit is one of several connected to the BRAVE Cave, a narcotics processing facility that served as a “torture” warehouse for local cops to physically and sexually abuse individuals in their custody. It was reportedly shut down last August after numerous complaints emerged. The Baton Rouge Street Crimes Unit, which used the site, was also disbanded.
This most recent lawsuit provides details about an incident on June 6, 2023, when officers conducted a SWAT sting on a family home in East Baton Rouge.
That morning, Lakeisha Varnado and her three sons woke up to several officers who burst into their home, the complaint states. Baton Rouge police had secured a search warrant after receiving reports about someone firing guns into the air near the home. Police found weapons inside the home, including one they said was stolen.
Police took Varnado and her 17-year-old, 15-year-old, and 11-year-old sons into custody. The complaint states that before they were detained, one officer hit the oldest son multiple times and another struck his 15-year-old brother in the mouth with a Taser.
Officers initially placed the 11-year-old child in a SWAT truck dressed only in his underwear. After “an hour or two,” one cop escorted him back to the house to get more clothes, the suit said.
According to the complaint, the entire family was detained and taken to the BRAVE Cave. From there, they were all separated.
Varnado was forced to strip naked and undergo a body cavity search. Her 15-year-old son was dragged to a holding cell where he was “choked and punched so hard” that he was “rendered unconscious.”
At one point, the 11-year-old child asked to use the bathroom and an officer took him somewhere “out of sight,”…
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