NEW ROADS — A man has filed a lawsuit against the New Roads Police Department and an officer who purportedly shot him, alleging the officer used excessive force.

John Sexton, son of Iberville Parish Assessor Randy Sexton, was shot in September by a New Roads Police officer outside the O'Reilly's Auto Parts on Hospital Road. John Sexton says in his lawsuit that he was not armed and that he was running away when he was hit.

"No reasonable officer could have believed that it was lawful to shoot an unarmed fleeing person" especially when no one was in danger, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit accuses the officer of using excessive and unwarranted force and violating Sexton's "rights to be free from an unreasonable seizure" by shooting him.

The officer has not been charged.

The suit says the

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