Eight Louisiana police officers charged in beating of two men during seat belt traffic stop

Eight police officers in Shreveport, Louisiana, have been indicted in the beating of two men during a traffic stop that began as a seat belt violation, NBC News reported.

Officers Aaron Jaudon, D'Andre Jackson, Mark Ordoyne, William Isenhour, Christopher McConnell, Brandon Walker, Treveion Brooks, and David Francis, were charged with one count of malfeasance in officer due to the incident, which occurred Jan. 24.

One officer attempted to pull over Chico Bell, who was driving, and the passenger, Damon Robinson, for a seat belt violation as they were leaving a home.

Bell didn't stop when the officer tried to pull him over, and the district attorney said he "threw several unknown objects from the window" of his truck during the pursuit.

The men eventually stopped, and the stop was recorded on a sheriff's deputy's dash camera. NBC News reported:

"Bell and Robinson raised their hands, and then stuck both hands up out of the windows of the truck, in an apparent attempt to surrender without resistance," the release said.

But Shreveport officers pulled Bell from the truck through the driver's window, according to the prosecutor, and "began striking, kicking, and tasing him." Medical records show he suffered injuries, including a broken orbital plate, the release said.

Robinson was meanwhile "punched multiple times through the open truck window" by one Shreveport officer as his "hands were being held by other officers," the district attorney said.

"SPD officers then took Robinson to the ground, where one officer apparently struck him in the face with a flashlight, despite Robinson's hands being behind his back," the release said. Robinson's nose was broken "in several places" from the attack.

Two of the officers, McConnell and Ordoyne, are no longer with the department. McConnell was fired, and Ordoyne resigned. The other six are on leave.

An attorney representing some of the officers said they were just doing their jobs.

"We're very disappointed in the indictment," attorney Dhu Thompson said, according to NBC News. "These officers were doing their job that day. It appears from the early evidence, of course, we're still gathering facts and investigating it, but these individuals chose to run from the police, endangering themselves, the officers and society."

Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins called for police reform.

"The nation is going through a reckoning because, in the past, officers were too infrequently held accountable for bad policing," Perkins said, according to a statement. "While it isn't pretty, this is the change citizens are demanding."