The strip-search lasted just six minutes, but when it ended, Jarius Brown had a broken nose, fractured eye socket and a badly swollen face.

Never-before-published footage shows why: Two Louisiana sheriff’s deputies pummeled the naked 25-year-old, flinging him around the DeSoto Parish Detention Center laundry room while landing a flurry of 50 punches.

In the assault’s aftermath, one of the deputies resigned and the other was suspended. Internal records show the sheriff’s office concluded “there was no way of defending” the 2019 attack.

Yet, that’s just what the Louisiana State Police did, an Associated Press investigation has found. After waiting months to analyze the graphic video and more than a year to even interview Brown, the agency cleared the deputies of wrongdoing. The state police ultimately supported the deputies’ claims that Brown had been the “aggressor.”

The case might have ended there had federal prosecutors not eventually gotten involved and come to the opposite conclusion: Brown had been the victim of excessive force.

The graphic footage remained under wraps for six years but emerged this month in Brown’s long-running lawsuit seeking damages for his injuries. Brown, now 32, declined to comment through his attorneys.

Gary Evans, a former DeSoto Parish district attorney, said the case underscores the safety net the Justice Department long provided in smaller communities — a role many advocates fear has been thrown into doubt as the department dials back its civil rights enforcement amid President Donald Trump’s mandate to “unleash” the police.

Russell Graham, a state police spokesperson, declined to explain his agency’s conclusion that there “was not sufficient evidence” the deputies committed a crime. He attributed delays in the investigation to the COVID-19 pandemic, which began six months after the beating.

“LSP remains committed to thorough, impartial investigations and working with partners to ensure accountability and uphold public trust,” Graham wrote in an email.

Former deputy Javarrea Pouncy pleaded guilty to using excessive force and was sentenced last year to serve about three years in federal prison. He could not be reached for comment.

The other deputy, DeMarkes Grant, who pleaded guilty to obstructing justice, was released from prison in April after serving a 10-month sentence. Grant told AP he was still “stressed out” and had “lost a lot” as a result of his conviction. He declined to say whether he regretted the beating.

Use of force experts questioned the divergent outcomes at the state and federal level, saying Brown never posed a threat and the beating was excessive.

The grainy footage shows a handcuffed Brown calmly walking into the jail’s laundry room before disrobing. The beating begins halfway through the search, after the deputies confront Brown for not squatting as directed so they could fully search him.

Neither deputy sought medical care for Brown after the beating, though he eventually was taken to the hospital.