A Baton Rouge police officer tied to BRAVE Cave abuse allegations served a weeklong suspension earlier this month, according to discipline records obtained by The Advocate.
Cpl. Joseph Carboni was sidelined Oct. 1 to 7 after officials determined he used excessive force when he shocked a handcuffed 15-year-old boy in the head with a Taser during a June 2023 raid, Baton Rouge Police Department records showed.
Police Chief Thomas Morse Jr. signed off on the suspension Sept. 4 following a six-month investigation by the department’s internal affairs division.
Police brass launched the internal review after receiving a complaint about Carboni on Feb. 20, the same day the teen’s mother filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court alleging Carboni illegally strip-searched her younger son, who was 11 at the time. According to the ongoing $5 million claim, the plaintiffs said officers beat and sexually abused them while executing a predawn search warrant June 6 at their house in the 1500 block of Aster Street.
Lakeisha Varnado and Tredonovan Raby, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of themselves and their three children, alleged that officers took their 11-year-old son out of the house wearing just his underwear, tackled and beat their eldest son, who was 17 at the time, and stunned their 15-year-old son with a Taser.
After the raid, police took family members to a now-shuttered unmarked warehouse that has come to be known as the “BRAVE Cave” for questioning. Carboni strip-searched Varnado and her 11-year-old son while Lt. Lorenzo Coleman dragged the 15-year-old to a holding cell, where he choked and punched him until the teen lost consciousness, the lawsuit alleges.
The same day they lodged the BRPD complaint and the federal lawsuit, Varnado and Raby filed for a restraining order in 19th Judicial District Court.
Carboni was a school resource officer who often provided off-duty support at IDEA Bridge, the Baton Rouge charter school that the 11-year-old boy attended. District Court Judge Will Jorden granted a temporary restraining order that same day that barred Carboni from the campus and prohibited him from going within 100 feet of the boy.
During a hearing Friday, Jorden signed off on a consent agreement reached by attorneys for Carboni and the child’s parents. According to the settlement decree, Carboni must not have any contact with the boy for the next two years. He can’t go within 100 yards of the child or his home and can’t attend any on-campus events or off-campus extracurricular activities of any school the juvenile attends.
Ryan Thompson, the parents’ Baton Rouge attorney, said they were satisfied with the agreement because it achieved the goals of the permanent injunction the plaintiffs initially sought. He noted findings from the department’s internal affairs report that showed Carboni violated three different use-of-force policies by using the Taser on the 15-year-old the same day the federal lawsuit alleges he stripped and groped the younger brother.
“Had we proceeded with the hearing we would have sought to introduce this relevant evidence into the record to illustrate that Officer Carboni poses an imminent threat to not only my client and his brother but to all juveniles that he comes in contact with,” Thompson said in a statement.
A weapons raid turns violent
Carboni was a member of the now-disbanded Street Crimes Unit, a drug and violent crimes detail that has become the epicenter of the BRAVE Cave allegations. In another of the federal lawsuits, Carboni is accused of kicking and punching 21-year-old Jeremey Lee, fracturing his rib, while officers interrogated the man inside the processing facility.
During the June 6 raid at Varnado’s house, police were investigating several complaints that teens at the Aster Street residence had for days been firing rapid fire gunshots from what sounded like machine guns. Six days before the raid, a ShotSpotter device in the area detected 22 rounds fired. Patrol officers checked the property and found several fresh shell casings along with bullet holes in a wooden fence behind the home. When a detail of officers descended upon the home around 5:30 a.m. for the June 6 raid, several juveniles darted out the back door. Two hid in a backyard shed and were quickly apprehended. Another teen was captured in a next-door neighbor’s yard.
Varnado’s sons, aged 15 and 17, jumped over a fence in the backyard, according to an arrest warrant. Police said the 15-year-old was armed when he ran out the back door and tossed the weapon in a wood line before he fled the yard. The gun proved to be stolen, the warrant stated.
Officers said the teen spat on a detective as he was being taken into custody. Police seized a loaded 0.40 caliber Glock, a mini Draco rifle and three 9 mm pistols — one had an extended clip, the other was stolen — according to reports.
Varnado was arrested along with five juveniles, including two of her sons. State court records show prosecutors dropped the contributing to the delinquency charge against Varnado in January after she completed a mitigation program.
Internal affairs investigators reviewed body-worn camera footage from several officers involved in the raid and it showed Carboni and Cpl. Brett Usey take the woman’s sons into custody after the youths attempted to escape.
When officers placed the irate 15-year-old in the back seat of Carboni’s patrol vehicle, he began kicking the door and the windows while handcuffed. He continued even after Carboni repeatedly ordered him to stop, the report said. Usey described the teen as “very hostile, very agitated” when he spoke to internal affairs investigators. At one point, Carboni is heard yelling at the teen that he would “knock (him) the f**k out” if he didn’t stop."
“What is wrong with kids these days?” Carboni wondered aloud to himself, according to the bodycam footage.
Loud bangs and thumps could be heard as the teen continued kicking the door from the inside cabin. After about 90 seconds, Carboni lowered the back window, showed his stun gun and told the teen he was “going to take that ride” if he didn’t stop. Investigators said that was a threat to use the Taser on him. When the juvenile pressed on, officers removed him from the squad car and placed him on the ground. Carboni could be seen making a sudden motion with his right arm, after which the teen cursed at officers and mentioned being shocked. The officers returned the shackled teen to the back seat, and he continued kicking the door.
In his Sept. 4 order, Chief Morse determined Carboni lost his emotional control and violated police procedure by using excessive force against a detained subject, the discipline letter stated.
BRPD leaders and officials from the District Attorney's Office weren’t immediately available for comment Tuesday. Carboni’s attorney did not respond to requests for comment.
Thompson, Varnado’s attorney, said the footage that led to Carboni’s suspension wasn’t shared during the evidentiary phase of Varnado’s criminal case or when he issued subpoenas for video evidence in the civil injunction case. He said it came to light only as part of the police department’s internal investigation.
“I am deeply concerned that the (body-worn camera) in question was withheld from me despite the law requiring both BRPD & the EBR District Attorney's Office to provide them to me via a lawfully issued subpoena or through the discovery process,” Thompson said.