The Arrests
At 9:00 p.m. on July 17, following a long day of surgery and treating patients, Dr. Pou was arrested and handcuffed by four armed agents of the Attorney General’s office, at her home in Baton Rouge, and processed at East Baton Rouge Parish Prison. After several hours she was again handcuffed and driven to Orleans Parish Prison. This dramatic arrest, conducted as some made-for-TV police show, came despite a firm agreement between Dr. Pou’s attorney and the Attorney General’s office that she would be allowed to present herself to authorities without a formal and public arrest.
Notably, the surprise manner of Dr Pou’s arrest left several of her hospitalized patients without a primary physician, thus depriving those patients of the personal care of their own physician.
In a similar fashion, nurses Cheri Landry and Lori Budo were arrested as if they were violent criminals and flight risks: Landry at the hospital where she worked and Budo at her home in front of her children.
To an outraged public, Mr. Foti’s motivations in the conduct of these arrests are clear: create controversy, make “news” and declare these caregivers as common, calculating killers. To patients, peers and people who know them best, nothing could be further from the truth.
Next: Refuting The Allegations
