Two Marksville employees suspended in dog, gator incident

By Raymond L. Daye
Co-Editor
Two Marksville Street Department employees have been placed on leave without pay for allegedly throwing a small dog into Spring Bayou while an alligator was swimming nearby, Mayor John Lemoine said.
The names of the two employees are not being released at this time. City Attorney Derrick Whittington said the incident “is a personnel matter that has not been resolved at this time.”
No arrests have been made and no charges have been filed, Whittington said.
Lemoine said he has heard there is a video of the incident, but has not seen it.
“If we find it, we will turn it over to authorities to see if charges should be filed,” Lemoine said. “If this is true, there is no excuse for doing things like that.”
He said the dog was not harmed.
“From what I have heard, they were pitching the dog into the bayou and it would swim back,” Lemoine said. “There was supposedly an alligator in the area, but he never got close because there were humans.”
The reason for the alleged actions by the employees has not been determined -- whether it was to play with the dog or to entice the alligator to come after the dog.
Lemoine said that at this time, “all I can say is that it is rumored that they threw a little dog into the bayou and an alligator was in the vicinity,” the mayor said.
The alleged incident occurred at a boat launch area three miles outside of the city limits.
“They were on the branch crew,” Lemoine said. “ They had been picking up branches. This occurred around 3 p.m. They had no business being there at that time. It looks like they were just out there killing time until it was time to clock out.”
He said the crew’s work day ends at 4 p.m.