A Eunice police officer has been placed on administrative leave and the State Police have agreed to investigate the complaint that led to that action.

Police Chief Gary Fontenot said late Monday morning that the officer was put on paid leave following the filing of a complaint by a man who alleges he was the victim of brutality during and after his arrest last week.

The name of the officer is withheld pending the investigation and the official complaint is not considered a public record by the agencies because it is the subject of an investigation.

Ordinarily, official complaints are not investigated by the Eunice internal affairs team until any court charges involved are disposed of.

Fontenot asked the State Police to take on the investigation.

Joshua Andrus, 19, alleges he was beaten, kicked and sprayed with pepper spray while in handcuffs following his arrest April 14.

He also claims he was beaten on the police station parking lot when taking from a police cruiser.

Surveillance cameras record events on the parking lot on a continuous basis. It is not known what tapes from those cameras might have show regarding the alleged incident.

One of the witnesses, his mother Mary Andrus, said she watched as her son was abused, before she convinced another officer to step in and stop it.

Andrus and his brother, Rudolph, 22, were arrested on North East street.

Joshua Andrus said he fled when police approached him because he feared being abused. He was found hiding behind a washing machine.

He said officers held guns to his head and used racial epithets as they kicked him in the back and ribs while arresting him

The brothers were transported in separate police cars. Joshua Andrus said the officer arresting him used so much pepper spray in the police car that he had to call for assistance because he could no longer drive due to the spray in his eyes.

Joshua Andrus is charged with two counts of battery on a police officer, flight from an officer and criminal trespass. His brother is charged with flight, trespass and unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling.

According to Joshua Andrus, his brother and his brother's girl friend had lived at the house in question until two days earlier, when they had a falling out.

The brothers were returning to retrieve some of Rudolph's belongings, he asserted.

Asked why they ran when police approached, he said, "If you're black, you don't want to be arrested these days by Eunice cops."

At a press conference, activist George Fisher decried what he called the "latest example of police brutality."

"It's time for the good police officers to come out on the bad ones, and it's time for the people, black and white, in this town to police their police," Fisher said.

He said the FBI had been contacted about Andrus' complaint and had said it would look into it.