The police chief in Baton Rouge, Louisiana apologized on Feb. 13 after an officer used an anti-sodomy statute that had been ruled unconstitutional to arrest two men who were having consensual sex, The Advocate newspaper reported Monday.
Police Chief Carl Dabadie also issued a memo to all officers reminding them not to arrest people using the old statute, The Advocate reported.
A Baton Rouge police officer arrested the two men on Feb. 12, after he saw them allegedly having sex in a car in a park, according to the newspaper. They were charged with trespassing in the park and “crimes against nature,” according to The Advocate. A judge threw out the latter charge, according to The Advocate.
“The officers made a mistake,” police department spokesman Jonny Dunnam told The Advocate. “The chief wants to send his apologies to those individuals.”
The Supreme Court invalidated anti-sodomy laws in 2003, the newspaper noted.