By james art A Baton Rouge police officer linked to allegations of abuse at BRAVE Cave served a one-week suspension earlier this month, according to disciplinary records obtained by The Advocate.
Corporal Joseph Carboni was suspended from Oct. 1 to 7 after officials determined he used excessive force when he hit a handcuffed 15-year-old boy in the head with a Taser during a June 2023 raid, police department records show. Baton Rouge.
Police Chief Thomas Morse Jr. signed off on the suspension on Sept. 4 after a six-month investigation by the department’s internal affairs division.
Police officials began the internal review after receiving a complaint against Carboni on Feb. 20, the same day the teenager’s mother filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court alleging Carboni illegally undressed her younger son, who was 11 years. According to the current $5 million lawsuit, the plaintiffs said officers beat and sexually assaulted them while executing a pre-dawn search warrant June 6 at their house in the 1500 block of Aster Street.
Lakeisha Varnado and Tredonovan Raby, who filed the lawsuit on their own behalf and on behalf of their three children, alleged that the officers took their 11-year-old son out of the house in only his underwear, grabbed and beat their oldest son, who was 17 the weather and stunned their 15-year-old son with a Taser.
After the raid, the police took the family members to a now-closed unmarked warehouse, which became known as the “Cave of the BRAVE” for questioning. Carboni stripped Varnado and her 11-year-old son while Lt. Lorenzo Coleman dragged the 15-year-old into a cell, where she choked and beat him until the teenager lost consciousness, the lawsuit alleges.
On the same day they filed the complaint against BRPD and the federal case, Varnado and Raby filed for a restraining order in the 19th Judicial District Court.
Carboni was a school resource officer who often provided off-duty help at IDEA Bridge, the Baton Rouge charter school the 11-year-old attended. Circuit Court Judge Will Jorden issued a temporary restraining order the same day that barred Carboni from the campus and prohibited him from coming within 100 feet of the boy.
During a hearing Friday, Jordan signed a consent agreement reached by Carboni’s attorneys and the child’s parents. According to the settlement order, Carboni is not to have any contact with the boy for the next two years. He may not come within 100 yards of the child or his home and may not attend campus events or extracurricular activities of any school the minor attends.
Ryan Thompson, the Baton Rouge-based attorney for the parents, said they are pleased with the settlement because it achieves the goals of the permanent injunction the plaintiffs originally sought. He noted findings from the department’s internal affairs report showing Carboni violated three different use-of-force policies by using a Taser on the 15-year-old boy on the same day the federal lawsuit alleges he stripped and felt 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 not only to my client and his brother, but to all juveniles with whom he comes in contact.” Thompson said in a statement.
Assault with a weapon turns into violence
Carboni was a member of the now-disbanded Street Crimes, Narcotics and Major Crimes Unit, which became the epicenter of the BRAVE Cave allegations. In another of the federal lawsuits, Carboni is accused of kicking and punching 21-year-old Jeremy Lee, breaking his rib, while officers were questioning the man at the processing facility.
During the June 6 raid at Varnado’s house, police were investigating several complaints that teenagers at the Astor Street residence had been firing what sounded like a machine gun in rapid succession for days. Six days before the attack, a ShotSpotter device in the area detected 22 rounds fired. Patrol officers checked the property and found several live shell casings along with bullet holes in a wooden fence behind the home. When officers descended on the home around 5:30 a.m. for the June 6 attack, several juveniles shot themselves through the back door. Two hid in a shed in the backyard and were quickly apprehended. Another teenager was caught in a neighbors yard.
Varnado’s sons, ages 15 and 17, jumped a fence into the yard, an arrest warrant states. Police said the 15-year-old was armed when he ran out the back door and threw the weapon into the row before running out of the yard. The weapon turned out to be stolen, the warrant said.
Officers said the teenager spat at a detective while being taken into custody. Police seized a loaded .40-caliber Glock, a Draco mini-rifle and three 9mm handguns — one with an extended clip, the other stolen — according to reports.
Varnado was arrested along with five juveniles, including two of her sons. State court records show prosecutors dropped the contribution to a felony charge against Varnado in January after she completed a diversion program.
Internal Affairs investigators reviewed body-worn camera footage from several officers involved in the raid, and it showed Carboni and Cpl. Brett Uzzi takes the woman’s sons into custody after the youths try to escape.
When officers placed the enraged 15-year-old in the back seat of Carboni’s patrol car, he began kicking the door and windows while handcuffed. He continued even after Carboni repeatedly told him to stop, the report said. Uzzi described the teenager as “very hostile, very agitated” when he spoke with internal affairs investigators. At one point, Carboni is heard shouting at the teenager that he was going to ‘knock the hell out of him’ if he didn’t stop.’
“What’s wrong with kids these days?” Carboni wondered aloud to himself, according to the bodycam recording.
Loud bangs and bangs were heard as the teenager continued to kick the door from the inside of the cabin. After about 90 seconds, Carboni rolled down the back window, displayed his stun gun and told the teenager he was “going for a ride” if he didn’t stop. Investigators said it was a threat to use the taser on him. When the young man insisted, the police took him out of the police car and placed him on the ground. Carboni could be seen making a sudden movement with his right hand, after which the teenager swore at officers and said he was shocked. The officers returned the shackled teenager to the back seat, and he continued to kick the door.
In his Sept. 4 order, Chief Morse determined that Carboni lost his emotional control and violated police procedure by using excessive force against a detained subject, the disciplinary letter said.
BRPD leaders and officials from the District Attorney’s Office could not be reached 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 was not 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 only came to light as part of the police department’s internal investigation.
“I am deeply concerned that the (body-worn camera) in question was seized from me despite the law requiring both BRPD and the EBR District Attorney’s Office to provide it to me through a lawfully issued subpoena or through the discovery process,” Thompson said.