Judge clears defendants in Armando Frank case civil suits Marksville PD, APSO not held responsible

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana cleared defendants in civil suits filed against the city of Marksville and Avoyelles Parish Sheriff’s Office in the 2017 death of Armando Frank.
Frank died during the execution of a felony arrest warrant for simple criminal trespassing and attempted unauthorized entry into an inhabited dwelling on Oct. 20, 2017. Frank was on his tractor in the Walmart parking lot on Highway One in Mansura when the warrant execution took place.
On June 13, Judge Dee Drell ruled the defendants in the lawsuit were clear of involved alleged excessive force and denial of medical care via qualified immunity as police officers.
Drell cited federal case, Saucier v. Katz, where qualified immunity “protects officers from the sometimes hazy border between excessive and acceptable force.”
The suit was filed by Frank’s brother in July 2018 and alleged excessive use of force during the execution of the warrant. According to pathologist Dr. Christopher Tape, Frank’s death was found to be a homicide with manual strangulation as the cause. There were no criminal charges ever filed in the case.
In his decision, Judge Drell said based on the felony warrants, the officers did have probable cause to arrest Frank, event though the officers did not know the nature of the offense.
Drell also wrote that Frank “verbally and/or physically resisted,” and became “increasingly obstinate” therefore excessive force was not out of the question of use by officers.
The Judge also denied the medical care claim citing “no evidence of deliberate indifference” to Frank, since an ambulance had been called and he was in the care of other officers when he was in a patrol car on the scene.
Drell granted the two motions for summary judgment and dismissed all claims against the defendants with prejudice.
Joseph J. Long and Carmen Tircuit Hebert, of Baton Rouge, represented the Frank family in the case while the city of Marksville and Kenneth Parnell were represented by Derrick Whittington of Marksville. Former Sheriff Doug Anderson, Daniel Alexandria and Brandon Spillman were represented by Brad Calvit and Eli Meaux of Alexandria.