As many as 12 cadets attending the Louisiana State Police Academy were reportedly injured—including cuts, bruises, a broken nose, and a fractured arm—as part of a punishment at the training academy earlier in October, according to Metropolitan Crime Commission’s Rafael Goyeneche.
According to WAFB-TV, leaders with the Louisiana State Police announced Monday afternoon that the agency has suspended defensive tactics training and has launched an administrative investigation into what happened.
Captain JB Slaton with LSP issued a clarification Tuesday night about the cadets injured in the incident. He says further investigation has determined there were no broken or fractured bones among the injuries, only bruising. Relatives of the cadets dispute that claim.
According to a source who spoke with the news station on the condition of anonymity, the incident began when one cadet was found to have a prohibited mobile phone.
“The early part of last week, a cadet was found to have a cell phone. Through looking into that, some information was determined. Some cheating took place during our testing process and that cadet, along with another cadet, was separated from service,” said LSP Col. Kevin Reeves.
That’s allegedly when certain LSP troopers forced cadets to hit one another with training pads according to WAFB’s source.
The source said other forms of "punishment" employed by the academy included sleep deprivation and swimming long distances while fully clothed.
The source went so far as to call the incident “hazing.”
"I think hazing would be a strong word to put a label on that," said Col. Reeves.
“I think the allegations that are part of your story are that absolutely it is a form of hazing," said Goyeneche.
