By JIM BUTLER

Two men arrested in Rapides Parish last July allege in federal district court they were deprived of their rights.

Named defendants include Sheriff Mark Wood, the Police Jury, Nortec LLC, an unidentified nurse, three line deputies, and a lieutenant known to the plaintiffs only as Shannon.
Nortec has provided health care to parish prisoners since 2015.

The Police Jury was to discuss the litigation in closed session at the conclusion of its regular monthly meeting Monday.

Such discussions are among the exceptions to the state’s Open Meetings Law. Though not required to be in executive session, they almost always are. 

Mark Howard Goldstein, 68 at the time, and Lester Nil Jafro Larkai, 24, were stopped about 9 a.m. on July 7, 2022, and booked into the parish jail about 3 p.m. They bonded out just after 6 p.m., records show.

Larkai, of Yonkers, NY, was charged with improper driving on left, flight from an officer and possession of CDS III.

Goldstein, of Reno, NV, was charged with possession of CDS I 1st 14 or less marijuana, tetracycline or chemical derivatives thereof.

During their arrest and/or detention the men claim they were subject to unconstitutional actions by the defendants.

Such alleged actions often cited in such litigation include accusations of unreasonable search and/or seizure, excessive force, and profiling in arrests and traffic stops.

The suit, filed on the defendants’ behalf by attorney Lance Unglesby, cites U.S. Code violations commonly referred to as Section 1983 action.

That section of Title 42 of the U.S. Code was enacted in 1871, allowing action against state employees and others acting “under color of state.”

It allows award of damages. The plaintiffs have requested a jury trial of their allegations.

The section was the vehicle for numerous landmark civil rights actions in the 20th Century.

This case is 1:2023cv00899 in the Western District Court of Louisiana.