Lafayette Officer Indicted; Two Others Cleared of Charges
A former Lafayette Police Officer is formally charged in connection with the beating of a man during a 2021 incident.
A grand jury indicted Marvin Martin on malfeasance in office and second-degree battery charges. Martin, a former college football player, is accused of beating Jonathon Alvey during the April 15, 2021 encounter. According to a federal lawsuit filed by Alvey against Martin and the Lafayette Police Department, Martin threw Alvey to his knees and then to the ground after arriving on the scene. The suit also accuses Martin of beating Alvey while Alvey was on the ground until another responding officer arrived on scene. The suit further alleges that Martin arrested Alvey on a resisting arrest charge without having probable cause to make that arrest.
The Lafayette City Prosecutor's Office declined the charge against Alvey, who claimed in the lawsuit that he now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and an aggravated knee injury.
Martin resigned from the Lafayette Police Department last year after an internal affairs investigation into the case was launched.
Former Lafayette police chief Toby Aguillard is Alvey's attorney.
Other Officers Not Indicted
The grand jury refused to indict two other Lafayette police officers in cases against them.
Pablo Estrada has been cleared of battery and malfeasance charges brought against him. Those charges stem from an incident at the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center that was caught on surveillance video. That video shows Estrada apparently pushing and punching Dennis Lazard shortly after Lazard's arrest in November 2020.
Lafayette Police Chief Thomas Glover fired Estrada shortly after the incident happened. Estrada is appealing to the Lafayette Fire and Police Civil Service Board to be reinstated.
The grand jury also refused to indict Alex Ritter on a malfeasance in office charge stemming from a December 31, 2020, incident outside the LPCC involving an armed robbery suspect. Originally, the district attorney's office charged Ritter with both malfeasance and battery charge. The district attorney later dropped the malfeasance charge. On Thursday, the grand jury also rejected the charge.
There's no word on the status of the remaining battery charge.
Chief Glover fired Ritter a day after the incident took place. Ritter is also appealing to the Lafayette Fire and Civil Service Board to get his job back.