BATON ROUGE — A Baton Rouge police officer, who quit after a federal lawsuit accused him of misconduct, is now accused of choking and beating his girlfriend Saturday night after an argument.
A warrant for his arrest was signed Sunday and he was booked Monday into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.
Troy Lawrence Jr. resigned from BRPD in 2023 right after the filing of a federal lawsuit involving the BRAVE cave “torture warehouse.” Lawrence was among the officers prominently featured in that and subsequent suits over how BRPD allegedly treated some people arrested.
Lawrence, 28, was booked with battery of a dating partner involving strangulation, simple battery, aggravated assault and simple criminal damage to property.
Lawrence is accused of choking and punching a woman he’s been dating on and off for about 10 years, according to his arrest warrant.
He and the woman had an argument Saturday “about his anger issue,” the warrant said. Lawrence left her house on Richardson Drive to meet friends. She sent him a text saying their relationship was over.
Lawrence is accused of returning to the house, kicking in the woman’s bedroom door and grabbing her by the neck, the warrant said. He is also accused of forcing her onto a bed and punching her in the face repeatedly. Her 3-year-old daughter was with her and was knocked down when the door was forced open, the warrant added.
The victim’s brother told deputies he intervened to stop the attack. When it stopped, he followed Lawrence out of the victim’s room. He said Lawrence showed him a gun and pointed it near where the victim’s brother and daughter were, the warrant said. Lawrence then left the house.
Deputies were called to the scene just before 10 p.m.
The investigating deputy talked to Lawrence on the phone, and he reportedly agreed to meet the deputy at a sheriff’s substation, the warrant said. In other conversations, Lawrence asked to be read his rights and to make a statement over the phone. The deputy said that wasn’t an option and Lawrence said he would talk to his attorney.
Lawrence was one of the officers accused of wrongdoing in federal lawsuits involving police conduct at a narcotics evidence processing warehouse that came to be known as the BRAVE cave.
The investigation of the BRAVE cave and other excessive force incidents led to several officers being indicted, including Lawrence’s father, Deputy Chief Troy Lawrence Sr. The elder Lawrence was fired in September 2024.
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