Officer fired over use of taser - 2nd member suspended

September 25, 2008
The Times Picayune, New Orleans

The New Orleans Police Department has fired an officer and suspended another for allegedly using excessive force during an incident last year. Officer Chad Perez, a 10-year veteran, was fired last week in connection with a November Tasering incident, NOPD spokesman Bob Young said Wednesday.

Perez and another officer, whose identity has not been released, used a Taser and excessive force during a traffic stop and the arrest of a local man, police said. Both were members of the Special Operations Division.

The man filed a complaint with the NOPD's Public Integrity Bureau, an internal investigative unit. Investigators looked into the complaint, and the inquiry culminated in the disciplinary actions meted out last week, police said. Perez is appealing his dismissal to the Civil Service Commission.

The other officer was suspended for 105 days, Young said.

Police declined to release additional details.