By Missy Wilkinson
The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate
NEW ORLEANS — Four former Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies accused of battering an inmate allegedly dragged the shackled man to a secluded part of the Old Parish Prison, where they punched, kicked and body-slammed him, according to OPSO.
The incident started at around 9:20 a.m. on Nov. 6, when an inmate refused a female deputy’s instruction to step back into a holding cell, according to an affidavit supporting the arrest of Sgt. Kurt Coulon, Jr., 38.
Along with OPSO detectives Bruce Dave, 53, Damien Anthony, 42, and Bryant Parish, 42, Coulon allegedly demanded the cell door be opened. Dave allegedly grabbed the man, who was still shackled and handcuffed, by his neck, knocking him forward onto the floor.
Coulon and Dave allegedly “dragged the victim by the chain link of his shackles” down a “hallway leading into the secluded Old Parish Prison,” the affidavit states.
The victim “attempted to hold onto an open door and had his hands forcefully removed from the door by Det. Parish,” wrote OPSO deputy Tyrone Jones in the affidavit supporting Coulon’s arrest.
The victim alleged they kicked and punched him there, before returning him to the holding cell.
All four of the OPSO deputies denied the use of force multiple times, the document states. After a civilian reported the battery to the OPSO’s Investigative Services Bureau on Nov. 20, detectives obtained surveillance footage of the incident and showed it to Dave, who “acknowledged that force was used on the victim, that the staff failed to report it, and that the force used on the victim constituted simple battery.”
Coulon and Dave were arrested Friday on counts of simple battery and malfeasance in office, and Anthony and Parish were each booked on counts of principal to simple battery and malfeasance in office.
Magistrate commissioner Peter Hamilton set bail for all four defendants at $5,000 and released them on their own recognizance.
—
© 2026 The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate. Visit www.nola.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
