Suspect who claimed abuse pleads guilty to charges

Published 11:04 pm Saturday, August 30, 2008

A Picayune resident who claimed she and her family and friends were the victims of police abuse in May recently plead guilty to the charges against her in the alleged incident.

After making allegations of police brutality at a council meeting, Katrina Bogan, 44, pleaded guilty to the charges of resisting arrest by fleeing and public profanity.

The charges against Bogan sprouted from an incident that took place at about 7 p.m. May 25 at her home, located at 1506 E. Canal St. Bogan said she was hosting a graduation party for a relative when a guest of hers was pulled over on his way to her house. That stop took place in front of her house.

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Bogan told the Picayune Item in a telephone interview days after the incident that she made a comment about the traffic stop being “bull____” to another guest at her house when they asked what was going on. An officer said “You’re going to jail” after she made the comment, but Bogan claimed not to know who the officer was talking to. She said she went to her house to call the police department to ask for more mature officers to respond because she saw what she believed to be improper handling of the suspect they had pulled over.

Officers barged into Bogan’s house and arrested her, she said. Bogan said her front door was broken in the process. As Bogan was being arrested, she alleged a number of people at the party were then handled improperly, causing them to attack the officers in retaliation.

She and other community members expressed their opinion of the incident at a council meeting weeks later.

City court records state Bogan pleaded guilty to the charges of public profanity and resisting arrest by fleeing at a city court hearing on Wednesday, Aug. 27. She was ordered to pay a fine of $446 and assessments of $268. Her fines were paid the same day, court records show.