LAFAYETTE, La. (Claire Taylor/The Advertiser)- An organizer of a failed recall petition against suspended Lafayette City Marshal Brian Pope is suing in federal court, alleging he was arrested in retaliation for the recall effort.

Steven Wilkerson, a chairperson for the Brian Pope recall effort, filed the lawsuit Monday in federal court in Lafayette.

The lawsuit alleges Pope, Deputy Paul Toce, an unnamed deputy, an unnamed dispatcher and an unnamed warrants supervisor violated Wilkerson’s rights under the fourth, fifth, sixth and fourteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution when they arrested him Dec. 11, 2017, on an invalid warrant for expired misdemeanor issuing worthless checks charges from 1998.

Wilkerson was arrested the day after the recall petition failed to gain enough signatures.

The lawsuit alleges Pope held the warrant until after the recall failed “in an attempt to maximize the public spectacle he intended to create when arresting the plaintiff and in a misguided attempt to show that he was vindicated.

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